Legion of Heroes
by little red cardigan
Summary: The tale where Percy and Jason do not switch places and do not lose their memories. From an unknown accident, Thalia is plucked from where she is and placed in the territory of the Romans. The only memory she has of herself is her own name.
1. Aut Vincere aut Mori

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the PJO series or anything else. If I did, I'd be rich, wouldn't I?

**A/N:** I realize that by doing multiple stories at once is practically asking for a death wish. I'm a slow updater (just telling you now) so please bear with me. 0_0

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One: Aut Vincere aut Mori<strong>_  
>Conquer or Die<em>

Her name was Thalia Grace…wasn't it?

That was pretty much all she knew about herself, besides the fact that she was a girl. Her name. She didn't even know what she looked liked. Was she busty blonde or a curly brunette? Did she have a mole somewhere that she didn't quite know about yet? Did she have a bad case of ache scattered all over her face? This was all starting to sound like that one episode on Gilligan's Island, where Skipper lost his memory.

Don't ask how she knew that. She didn't even know what Gilligan's Island was.

She extended her arms, her hands stretched out in front of her. They were pale, nimble fingers, and the whiteness of her skin kind of freaked Thalia out. There was a large bandage wrapped around her right palm. Her head moved to the side, causing long, black hair to swish back and forth. _Swish, swoosh. Swish, swoosh._

Judging by her surroundings, Thalia thought she was in a rather large cot in a stranded tent. The flaps of the tent billowed, the wind from the outside creasing open and close. Small, fur rugs littered the ground and there was one table on the side of the cot she sat on. To the side, there was a floor-length mirror. Immediately, she pushed back the covers of her blanket, bare feet touching the icy rugs, making her way towards the shiny object that was coaxing her.

In the mirror, she saw a girl of average height. Pale skin, black hair, and a face that looked as though she needed a full week's worth of sleep due to the purple circles. Bright blue eyes blinked owlishly back at her. What disturbed her most was the lack of meat on her body. She resembled a walking, living, breathing stick. Dear gods, had she been an anorexic before her memory had been wiped?

Thalia was pretty sure she heard a snarl from behind her. With much curiosity, she turned around and she was amazed how rooted she was in place and how she didn't run from the moment she saw what was behind her.

There was a giant she-wolf sitting just a couple distances away from her. Thalia wasn't sure if wolves were supposed to be that big. The wolf she was staring at probably stood to her chin, and that was larger than any averaged-sized wolf. The creature simply radiated with ice. Her eyes were silver, and her fur was clear white. She was regal and at the same time, lethally dangerous.

Thalia tilted her head inquiringly. "Lupa."

Wait just a minute. Where the hell did _that_ come from? She couldn't remember anything about herself, but she could remember some strange wolf's name?

The white she-wolf curled her lip, speaking her language. _I can smell you, little pup. You are not a Roman._

"You're probably right," Thalia answered without a second thought, her gaze reverting slightly back to the mirror. "I don't look Roman at all. Maybe Caucasian or mixed—"

The wolf went into a series of short barks. For some reason, it sounded like she was laughing. _That is not what I meant, little pup. You reek of a Greek demigod. You do not belong here._

"Demigod?" Thalia repeated.

_Half human, half god,_ Lupa gazed at the girl with slanted eyes. She judged the girl, her structure, her form, her balance to her surroundings. _Do you know who you are? _In response, Thalia shook her head and the she-wolf stepped forward, circling the pale girl.

_Aut vincere aut mori,_ the wolf resumed, silver eyes poised on Thalia. _This has always been our way. Your judgment is tomorrow at dawn. Let us find out whether you will rise or fall. _

"Judgment? What do you mean—" Thalia was cut off by the splinting howl Lupa gave. Barely a second later, another wolf appeared in the tent. It was a tall one, its fur the color of deep russet, and it was slightly shorter than the she-wolf, but just as large.

_Take our guest to the headquarters where she will stay. She needs all the rest to survive tomorrow,_ Lupa barked again, the noise sounding like some unspoken laughter to Thalia's ears before the white she-wolf gracefully rushed out of the tent.

Thalia and the russet-colored wolf stared at each other. She wondered if this one was similar to Lupa. Her question was answered when a grin appeared on the wolf's features.

_You look familiar, pretty one_, the wolf's grin spread wider. Was he _flirting_ with her? _Your eyes. They're the same shade of blue like Jason's. But you look nothing like him. _

Jason. The name sounded so oddly familiar. "Jason?"

The wolf nodded. _Praetor of the First Legion_.

"Er…right." She had no idea what he was talking about.

_Never had a Greek here before. Well, since the war anyway,_ the wolf's eyes sparkled. _This could be interesting. Come along, Snow White. _

"What?"

_Pale skin, dark hair, rosy red lips…you honestly don't see the resemblance? Just put a crown and a dress on and you're a dead ringer for her. Snow White's my favorite princess by the way, _the wolf winked._ And, Dakota Seymore at your service. _

Thalia smiled for the first time that day, or evening. "Could you tell me what this place is?" she asked, following him out of the tent flaps.

_This is the camp for heroes,_ Dakota said, leading her around the camp. _This is a place full of demigods._ _You've got to prove your worth before you can train here. I think you'll make it. To get in, you'll have to still be living once Lupa is through with you. If she sees you can't take it, you're out._

"So that's it? All I have to do is fight Lupa?"

_It's not as easy as it sounds. She's damn hard. Of all of us, Jason was the only one who beat her under a half hour. That explains why he's the praetor of the First Legion. There are a total of five legions here, with the Fifth being the lowest, and the First being the absolute best. Everyone here is placed into a legion._

The ground felt solid as she walked. In her bare feet, she was freezing cold, her toes probably turning purple. They stood in front of a multi-story house with massive log walls and a gabled roof. Stone spires of chimneys rose up high like wooden totem poles. There was a courtyard leading up to the doorway. There was a reflecting pond on the side, long and rectangular, and filled with mist at the bottom.

_Well, here we are,_ Dakota grinned again at her.

Was he always so happy?

The place looked quite impressive. "Is anyone else living here?" she asked, and when Dakota shook his head, a frown pulled at her lips. "So no one lives here. Well, thanks for walking me here."

Dakota snorted. _You aren't getting away from me that easily, Snow White. I'm staying with you, you know, to make sure you won't try to escape or anything._

"Why would I try to escape?" she asked incredulously. "Where would I even go?"

_Don't look at me. I don't make the rules around here. _

Thalia shot him a shrewd look. "Fine. Come on, Kota."

_Kota?_ Dakota cocked his head at the nickname.

"Unless you prefer being called Dakota."

_No, it's just…_For the first time upon meeting each other, the cheeky wolf was speechless. Thalia suddenly felt as though she had accomplished something. _I like it. _

"That makes one of us," Thalia grinned. "Are you sure you can't call me by something else?"

_Snow White fits you! Or maybe Snow for shorter…_

Thalia shook her head, laughing as her hand reached for the doorknob. She entered through it, and the first room she saw was a room with a warm hearth in place, followed by a long couch opposite of the fire place. The corridors led to a stairway, leading to the upper floors.

She didn't want to go upstairs. For some reason, the ascending stairs leading to what seemed like a never-ending darkness gave her a bad vibe, one that she should follow. But upstairs were probably were the beds were. Of course. Thalia told herself to stop being such a coward and go already. Besides, she needed all the rest if she wanted to live. She stepped forward. But that was the only step she took.

_Snow, I'm sensing your hesitation—_

"Shut up, Kota." Nope. She was not going up there. No way. "I'm sleeping on the couch."

_What?_ Dakota looked highly disgruntled at the idea. _But upstairs has the big king-sized bed and all. I want to sleep on a bed!_

"No," she firmly replied. A certain satisfaction swelled in her when Dakota's ears flatted back in dramatic distress. "I'm sleeping on the couch, and you're sleeping on the ground."

Dakota didn't sleep on the ground like Thalia had told to. Instead, in the middle of the night while Thalia was deep in her slumber, the capricious wolf had snuggled in the small space between the couch and Thalia. When the girl had woken up, due to Dakota kicking her, she was on the edge of the couch and had fallen off out of surprise, her ears filled Dakota's morning laughter.

In that moment, past her displeasure at having woken up in such a state, Thalia suddenly remembered that today was her judgment day. She looked at the time, and it was an hour until dawn.

Thalia sat at the table, staring at the bowl of cereal she had managed to find around the house. She couldn't remember being able to cook, and a box of Fruity Pebbles was her only option.

_Gotta eat something, Snow,_ a voice echoed in her mind, reminding her that Dakota was there. She looked down to where the wolf sat, staring up at her. _Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even I know that._

"I can't do this," Thalia muttered in a deadpanned voice. "She's going to slaughter me in front of everyone. She's going to eat me. I'm going to die."

_Don't be so melodramatic. She's not going to eat you. She'll do some injury to you that land you headlong into the infirmary, but that's only the worst of it. _

"How is that supposed to make me feel better?"

_So I take it you're not eating then?" _

Thalia shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

Dakota nudged her leg lightly. _Then let's go. We shouldn't keep Lupa waiting too long. Besides, it's always good to come early and see the advantages you have in the field, no?_

A long pause. And then: "You know what? I think I'm starting to feel hungry."

* * *

><p>The place where she was supposed to fight Lupa was a large colosseum, and exact replica of the original one in Ancient Rome. You know, the one where gladiators and their chariots race against one another, or how brave warriors take on the deadliest of creatures. It was the amphitheater of antiquity.<p>

Snickering. And a whole lot of people whispering down at her. Nothing more than what seemed like camp hazing on the newcomer.

The colosseum was filled to the top with hundreds of campers, and most of the eyes were trained on Thalia, much to her dislike. She felt like a fish trapped in a clear tank, where humans take the time to look at every inch of you, like the animal you are. She then applied this feeling to being a wild animal trapped in a cage, flustered with rage and tampered with only to the pure, hostile amusement of the watchers.

The bars to the gate had just let her in, under Lupa's command. Beforehand, she had heard Lupa boom, _"We have a new challenger! I will test her myself to see if she is worthy. Come out, little pup!" _

And then the bars had cranked open, and Thalia was standing where she is now.

Lupa was in her wolf form. She gave such a wolfish smile, nodding to the side of the arena. There, a simple sword lay sheathed on the ground. Dakota had told her that every opponent first entered always used the same sword.

Thalia, keeping her narrowed eyes on Lupa, walked to the sword and picked it up. Before Thalia even turned around, Lupa was running straight forward, and she had only little time to dive towards the right. Lupa was way smarter than that, so the white wolf bounced against the wall she had faced and curled back to form. She swerved away, her sword barely scraping along the wolf's legs as Lupa clipped her.

Ignoring the gasps from the crowd, Thalia was on her feet. Her silver eyes bore into Thalia's blue ones, as though the human girl was a highly complex puzzle she couldn't solve, or an annoying thorn she couldn't pick out from the side.

Then Lupa was hurtling herself towards Thalia, knocking the girl off her feet again. Lupa gnawed, her teeth snapping at Thalia's pale face, but she used the sword of her blade to block the intruding, sharp teeth. The tip of her sword was at the wolf's neck, while Lupa was attempting to slash a chunk of Thalia's face off. With a growl, Lupa grabbed the sword with her teeth and threw it across the arena.

With an intimidating snarl, Lupa left a large gash along Thalia's arm, peeling her skin off. In the short seconds that span the time, her human blood was drenching the ground.

_Get up, little pup, _Lupa quickly sank her teeth onto Thalia's skinny hip. She could taste the girl's fresh blood. _Is that all you have? _

Lupa was a bit taken back when the girl didn't respond to the remark. She didn't even flinch or scream when Lupa took a bite from her and damaged her arm. Unless the girl was already dead, she was stronger than Lupa thought.

It was really strange. Thalia didn't feel a thing. She lay there, looking weak by default, but she didn't feel any pain.

_Come on, Snow,_ she heard Dakota speak in her mind. Slowly, she willed her eyes to look up the rows of the colosseum, up to where all the wolves were sitting, watching their leader. There, near the side and near the very front, was the russet-colored wolf that she had the chance to befriend.

The winds were howling, changing their course of direction. From whence they were traveling north, they were now going east. Thalia felt the wind caress her side, dancing along the blood bite that was dotted there. The winds were wrapping around her bloodied arm, feeling the invisible forces winding around like ribbons. The crowds were gasping again, and Thalia had found the strength to sit up.

The bite Lupa had left her on her hip was gone. Her punctured arm was fixed, sewn to perfection and leaving no scars or any memoirs of the white wolf scratching her there. The campers watching had gasped again. But Thalia took no notice to any of them. She was feeling something she hadn't felt before. It was something that was very familiar, and was only erupting now because it had been lost, along with her memory. Now it was recovered, and she could feel every single inch of her new found ability.

Everything had changed now. It was a whole different ball game.

Lupa crouched, sensing the presence of the demigod. The girl's scent was more profound now. She winded her legs, lowering herself to her hind legs before launching herself.

Yet Thalia was even _faster_. The winds were on her side, carrying her quick and freely, so fast that the crowd could barely see her running. To them, she looked like a tiny dot reappearing and disappearing. Even Lupa had trouble keeping her eyes on her opponent. When the dot appeared inches from her face, her claws came out and she slashed.

Where she expected blood, there was only air.

Lupa's ear twitched. Realization dawned on her. _Finally, an opponent worthy of me._

Suddenly, something white flashed in Lupa's eyes, faster than any silver bullet, Thalia had knocked Lupa. The pair rolled across the arena, cutting along the dirt of the ground, snarling at each other. With her knee, Thalia shoved the white wolf faced front, digging her knee in deeper until she knew the wolf was eating dirt. She flipped the sword over in a technique she didn't realize she even knew how to do, and brought the hilt of the sword down onto Lupa's skull hardly.

_Crack!_

Deadly silence reigned.

Still holding onto the sword, Thalia quickly got off of the white she-wolf, not yet praising in her victory yet. For now, she watched the wolf's frozen form, and she wasn't that stupid to know that Lupa was dead. Something gave her an indication that Lupa was immortal.

Thalia let her eyes roam the crowd that had snickered at her, that had whispered bets that she would either lose or win, that had scrutinized her with sharp gazes. The prior demeanors that were on the campers were gone. They were all either staring at her with shock or disbelief. She didn't know why it was so surprising to them. Hadn't they all gone through the same thing she had?

A noise to her side snapped her gaze back to the white wolf. Lupa was on her four paws again, shaking her head to test out the new cracked skull she had just obtained. Her ears twitched back as she gazed back at Thalia. For once, her silver eyes held no cold humor or no intent to murder.

Lupa crawled to where Thalia stood, noticing how the girl's eyes were trained solely on Lupa, analyzing the many different ways she could kill the defeated, white she- wolf. And the girl _could_ kill Lupa in any of those ways. This girl was stronger than many of the campers here, and it took a colosseum brawl for Lupa to realize the high potential in the girl.

With her paws planted on the ground, Lupa bowed her white head.

A sign of respect. And in other words, it was a forfeit of the match.

It was as though the whole experience had been on mute, and someone had just decided to turn up the volume. Now, in the silence that had overtaken the crowd, the moment Lupa had bowed her head, the campers were on their feet, clapping and screaming their heads off. There was a mad frenzy of roars, their yells celebrating the victory of the newcomer.

_Good job, Snow,_ Dakota's voice sounded happy, but there was an awed undertone to it. _That was by far, the fastest match against Lupa yet. You were even faster than Jason. You're in the First Legion for sure. Vicisti. _

You have conquered.

The crowd was silent again, and it took Thalia every fiber in her body not to say, "What _now_?"

She looked at Dakota, whose wide dark eyes were looking at the space above her head. Out of natural instinct, Thalia followed his gaze and looked up.

A bright hologram of a lightning bolt was gleaming above her head.

In the crowd, a boy with blond hair cut in a militaristic style abruptly stood up. He had an athletic build, and he was somewhere around her age. There was a tiny scar on his upper lip. What astounded her the most was that he had the same blue eyes Thalia had. He had descended the steps of the colosseum, making his way towards the outer pier where he leaned over to get a better view of her, his hands white from gripping hard against the barriers that held him back.

Something glowing turned Thalia's attention away. Lupa's white form was glowing, and Thalia realized that the white wolf was changing. The glow was metamorphosing into that of a human form. In place of Lupa the wolf, stood a tall, slender woman with silver eyes, and white hair. She looked like an ice queen, to be exact.

A cold hand was placed on her shoulder. "So it is determined," her voice was quiet, but it enunciated an authority not to be trifled with. "Hail, Thalia Grace, Daughter of Jupiter."


	2. Consul Legionis Primae

**Chapter Two: Consul Legionis Primae**_  
>Consul of the First Legion<em>

Jason hadn't realized he had been holding Reyna's hand in a vice-like grip the entire time. For sure, he had thought the girl in the arena was dead when she was frozen in her own puddle of blood.

And then by some miracle, the winds had washed her blood away. From that moment, Jason had a gut feeling that the girl had to be an offspring of Jupiter. No wind would do that to any other demigod. The girl had gotten up and she had sprinted even faster than the winds that carried her, confounding the crowd to the highest. When she had struck Lupa on the head, Jason knew that this girl's fighting techniques had to be beyond anything the Romans ever faced. Her battle with Lupa had been the shortest in history of the camp, only lasting about fifteen minutes.

After that act, anyone talented enough to best Lupa at her own game like that was automatically placed in the First Legion, regardless of attitude or personality. That was what happened to Jason after his fight—an automatic consent to praetor.

He had nearly ripped Reyna's hand off the moment the girl had turned to face the crowd. There was something familiar about that skinny body, that ebony hair, the porcelain skin that glinted from the sun. When she turned, Jason saw her face, and her eyes.

_Thalia_ was the first word that popped into his mind. His older _sister_ was here. And that couldn't possibly be, because his patron, Juno, had told his two-year old self that Thalia and his mother was dead, before she had placed him at this Roman camp.

Jason may have forgotten many things from his short childhood, but the one thing he refused to forget was Thalia. He thought about her at least twice a day, and wondering if she was doing well wherever she was in the afterlife. This was the girl that taken care of him and loved him before he was snatched away from his family. Unlike his real mother, Thalia had been the mother Jason had only known.

He even had a picture of Thalia and him together. He was still a babe, but she was around six or seven. Her black hair was short and spiky, but the same, undeniably blue eyes sparkled back. Plus, the real Thalia had to be at least six years older than Jason was. The girl in the arena looked no less older than Jason's age.

There was no way.

But then that hologram of the fated lightning bolt shined boldly above her head. Jupiter had claimed her. At that moment, Jason just knew that this girl was his sister. She had to be.

He had raced down the steps, ignoring Reyna's calls of his names, ignoring everyone else and pushing everyone to the side as he went towards the barriers that separated the watchers from the arena. He leaned as far as he could, his hands clenching brutally at the counter. Then he heard the fated words that would change him forever.

"Hail, Thalia Grace, Daughter of Jupiter."

Thalia _Grace_. That was _his_ last name.

Lupa's silver eyes met his over the hushed crowd. Their silent passing was pronounced, and even Thalia looked up to face him herself. Jason felt frozen.

The head's voice boomed over the colosseum once more. "You are dismissed."

No one wanted to leave. But after the wolves on the stands snarling at the campers to get a move on, the campers grudgingly exited towards the back doors, not before staring at the newly claimed daughter of Jupiter.

Lupa was pulling Thalia in a different direction—towards Lupa's cave.

_No!_ Jason thought, banging his fist against the counter. _Don't take her away! Just let me look at her again!_

"Jason." A hand was placed on his arm, but he shrugged it off, leaning to see Thalia once more. He sighed in frustration, his leg bent towards jumping over the barrier. "Jason!"

The blond boy whirled around, an almost mad desperation in his blue eyes. "That's my sister, Reyna! I haven't seen her in fourteen years, and now they're taking her away from me _again_! Fuck, no! I won't let them!"

"They won't take her away," Reyna reassured, her hands steadying Jason by placing them on his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "Lupa's just deciding what legion she's going to be placed in."

"She has to be in the First Legion."

"Jason—"

"Have you seen anyone fight like that?" Jason snapped angrily. "She beat Lupa in less than_ fifteen minutes_! She's got to be in the First Legion."

Reyna looked wary. "Well, newcomers don't automatically get placed in the First Legion. They work their way up—"

"I got placed automatically," Jason argued.

"You were an exception."

"She's one too."

* * *

><p>Lupa had supervised Thalia when she had taken the girl to get her tattoo. By the time the letters SPQR was tattooed over the symbol of the eagle, the bare, pale skin had been spliced by the needle and was already bleeding excessively, giving the indication that her skin was dainty.<p>

But Thalia had barely flinched at the pain. She had narrowed her eyes at the needle, and almost refused the tattoo, and it took a while for Lupa to coax the girl into getting it. She had very special plans for Thalia. Lupa dismissed the idea of the girl being a Greek demigod beforehand. She was a Roman now. There would be the consequences that Thalia would remember her Grecian origins, but Lupa would deal with that later.

Thalia sat on the stool, her body rigid at being too stiff, and her face blank. She showed no pain. The image reminded Lupa much of the first time Jason had gotten his tattoo. He too, remained still as the needle jabbed along his skin. It just goes to show how siblings are so alike.

"How are you feeling, little pup?" Lupa asked, watching the girl's face closely.

_Absolutely brilliant, considering you almost tried to kill me an hour ago. _"Peachy."

"Good."

Thalia let her legs dangle from sitting atop the stool. Amidst the blood that covered her entire right forearm, she could see the dark indentions of her new and fresh tattoo that was very starch on her skin. It would be impossible to miss it. There was a numbing sting along her arm, but the pain wasn't that bad. She honestly didn't realize the point into getting the tattoo. Lupa then ordered the man to tattoo a word near the bottom of the eagle: CONSUL.

"Why am I getting a tattoo?" she asked. _And what does consul mean?_

"Every Roman that goes to this camp has one. A line would be added upon each year you stay here."

"You said I reeked of a Greek demigod."

Lupa could sense the trouble in this one already. "You are a Roman now."

She had Lupa's consent, which was great, but Thalia still felt as though she was trespassing over enemy territory—probably the Greek inside her screaming she was overstepping her boundaries. She could barely remember herself as a Greek, and now Lupa was trying to convert her into a Roman?

When the tattoo was finished, a bandage wasn't mentioned into covering her blood up. Lupa observed the tattoo, nodding in affirmation before saying, "Come, daughter of Jupiter."

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows together. "Who's Jupiter? Is that Hermes?"

"I believe his Greek name is Zeus, Lord of the Sky and King of the Gods." Lupa turned sharply and walked briskly out of the building, with Thalia following.

"My dad's Zeus?" she asked with widened, blue eyes. "Who's my mom?"

"That," Lupa turned her head to the side, the corner of her eyes catching Thalia's bewildered face, "is within your own memories. It is up to you to remember who your mortal parent is."

They walked around the corner, leading up to a large mess hall hidden behind large, oak doors. Thalia assumed this was where the campers ate their meals. Lupa slipped past the doors, and Thalia stepped in too, with slight hesitation.

There were many tables grouped together in what looked like sections. There were a total of five sections, symbolizing the five legions of the Romans. Upon their entrance, all talking ceased. It seemed that it was rare for Lupa to appear in the mess hall. Again, Thalia felt like the guinea pig being watched, and even more so when Lupa placed her hands on her shoulders and moved her towards the front, where she was in plain view of everyone. When she was in the front, it seemed as though every camper leaned forward to see her.

Lupa smiled, squeezing Thalia's shoulders, nails almost piercing her skin. "First Legion."

The section at the center of the mess hall, probably smaller than the rest of the sections due to rare skill and expertise, erupted into cheers. The campers at the other sections slumped, and returned to their food, their expressions gloomy as the First Legion surpassed celebratory means.

"Told you," Jason whispered lowly to Reyna, the both of them sitting at the tables of Section One.

Reyna nodded slowly. "Bet you the Mars kids would befriend her first." The offspring of Mars would befriend anyone who was such a powerful person.

"Not this time," Jason glared at the hungry looks the Mars house was sending towards his sister.

As the claps died away, and the confused look on Thalia's face was more clearly evident, Lupa cleared her throat, beckoning silence in one stroke. With a slight push, Thalia involuntarily skipped towards Section One. "Meet your new Consul. Treat her with respect." With cold fleetingness, Lupa walked out of the hall.

The stares and whispers were heightened and Thalia inwardly groaned. First and foremost, what the hell was a consul? The word was tattooed into her skin, words black against white.

"Consul?" Reyna's jaw dropped, eyes widened. She turned to Jason, "Her rank is higher than yours."

Jason was one of the best warriors in the First Legion, making him the best of the best. Lupa had given him the title of praetor from the beginning, and he had served that title beyond called for. The rank consul was above praetor, meaning that Thalia had to be better than Jason, which seemed unbelievably impossible.

Unlike the rest, Jason didn't look the least bit surprised. He expected Thalia to get a rank somewhere around his, but he didn't expect her to get one higher. He remained expressionless.

Suddenly, a boy stood from the section, no older than sixteen. "Consul," he bowed towards Thalia, earning a baffled look from the girl. "May I get your food?"

Thalia blinked. "Why would you do that?"

"You're the consul." Now it was the boy's turn to look confused.

An awkward pause passed between them. "You don't have to do that. Just tell me where to get some food," Thalia then replied, a big grin on her face, unconsciously causing the boy to blush. "But thanks, anyway."

After the boy pointed north, Thalia noticed a type of buffet bar with all sorts of food there. The boy sat down once she walked away. Jason watched her walk before glaring at the boy, whose name happened to be Tyler. "Don't you dare try anything. That's my sister."

"Jason!" Reyna admonished, jabbing his ribs sharply with her elbow.

Thalia could feel the eyes staring numerous holes at her back. She sighed, wondering if she could ever get past feeling like a scientific experiment just waiting to be poked at. After today's event, Thalia didn't feel all that hungry. Not hungry enough for a big meal, that is. So, she only piled grapes, a few strawberries, and a banana on her plate.

She felt like that new kid coming to school, where they have a full tray of food, and they're looking around for an empty place to sit, or looking for anyone who would even bother welcoming them to their table. Fact is, she knew where she was supposed to sit, since it had been pre-decided already. But she would be sitting with a bunch of people she didn't even know. After today, she really didn't want to eat with a bunch of strangers who were more likely to stare at her than eat along with her.

Luckily, there was an empty table in Section One and she made her way towards it.

The eyes followed her every movement as Thalia sat down at the table, perfectly content with being alone. Her chin leaned against the palm of her hand, with her elbow resting on top of the table, her gaze staring into space. The other hand was absently picking at grapes and popping them into her mouth.

The children of Mars whispered to each other, getting ready to leave the table and head over to where Thalia sat, but Jason had stood up, and the murmurs had quieted. He still had power over them. He silenced them even further with a stern look, gripping his own plate of food before heading off. Reyna dutifully followed him, along with Hazel and Kenneth. The Mars house could only glare obstinately after them.

A quiet clang of a glass plate being settled upon the table broke Thalia away from her thoughts. She was immediately looking into her blue eyes, only, they belonged to a boy's face. It was the same blond boy who had stood up when she had been in the arena. The next thing she knew, a hand was stuck in her face.

"Name's Kenneth," a well-built boy with brunette, shortly-cropped hair greeted, hand extended. Thalia shook the hand without a second thought. "Son of Mercury." Who was Mercury?

A girl with lightly-colored brown hair smiled. She radiated like the sun, bringing certain warmth to the cold hall. "I'm Hazel, Daughter of Apollo."

Thalia recognized that name, so she nodded. The parentage made sense also. She turned next to the other girl, whose honey blonde hair was curled like a princess's. Immediately, the blonde girl reminded Thalia of someone—someone Thalia shouldn't have forgotten.

"Reyna," the blonde girl said, grey eyes observing, but not cold. "Daughter of Minerva."

"Don't you mean Athena?" Thalia deferred.

Reyna eyes turned questioning. "Pardon?"

"Oh, ah…never mind," Thalia muttered in resignation. She turned towards the familiar blond boy. "And who are you?"

The blond boy staggered back. "Y-You don't remember me?" he stammered, obviously unprepared for this. He had thought that she remembered him all along.

"I've never met you before today," she answered honestly. The blond boy's face had fallen, and Reyna had placed a consoling hand on his shoulder. The image had made Thalia guilty and she fidgeted nervously. "When I came here, I lost all my memories, so I'm sorry I don't remember you."

Reyna's head snapped back to Thalia. "You lost all your memories?"

"Every single one," Thalia said. "The only thing I remembered was my name."

Kenneth took a bite from his bread roll. "If you lost all your memories, how come you beat Lupa this morning? Those were some pretty insane moves you pulled out there."

Thalia shrugged as an answer. "I didn't even know most of the moves I did. I just acted on impulse, really."

"Your impulse saved you out there," Hazel added with a grin.

Maybe it did. Thalia looked back at the blond boy, who was still hadn't introduced himself yet.

"Oh, right," the blond boy shook out of his daze. "I'm Jason, Son of Jupiter."

Everyone except Thalia noticed that Jason didn't mention his last name.

A surprised, but jovial expression crossed Thalia's face. "You're a kid of Zeu—Jupiter too? It's nice to know we share a dad. Does that make us half siblings or something like that?"

_We also share a mom,_ Jason thought sadly. _And we're actually real siblings, not half siblings._

"Yeah," Jason nodded, swallowing thickly. "Something like that."

Thalia smiled a pretty smile. For some reason, it reminded Jason of their mother. "I've always wanted a brother. Even with my memories wiped, I don't recall ever having a sibling before."

He knew Thalia wasn't aware of how much her words were affecting him right now. Her lack of memory of him felt like a sharp stab in the gut that was slowly, but painfully ebbing away. Jason looked so…lost.

"Say, Thalia," Hazel noticed the expression on her praetor's face and acted quickly. "Do you have a camp shirt?"

"This camp has shirts?" Thalia wondered, picking a single strawberry and biting into it.

Hazel nodded eagerly. "Yep. I bet you'll like them. They're purple. Hey, Kenneth," she gritted her teeth, stepping on Kenneth's foot under the table to get the boy's attention. "Let's go take Thalia to get her new shirt."

"That was my bad foot, Hazel." _Stomp. Stomp_. "Ow! Alright! Sheesh."

Hazel tugged onto Thalia's elbow, already pulling her from the table. "Bye, Jason. Bye, Reyna," the bright blue-eyed girl waved at them, managing to pick up a few grapes before the other girl hauled Thalia right out of the place. With a rakish wink, Kenneth disappeared after them.

The two Roman demigods left at the table didn't speak right away.

"She doesn't remember me," Jason whispered, his voice barely audible.

"I'm sure something happened to her when she came here," Reyna softly replied. "You've always said that Thalia was the one that took care of you, not your mother. If Thalia is still anything like that, she wouldn't forget you so easily."

Jason averted his gaze modestly to the ground. The entire day was spent in near excitement, unable to wait until he was to meet Thalia face-to-face. In his mind, he imagined the reunion to be a heartfelt one, where they would rush and hug each other. She would then gush over how old he was, and he would respond on how he thought she was dead. It would be an emotional reunion.

He didn't expect for Thalia not to remember him at all. At least let her remember _something_ about him, but no—the gods were not on his side this time. They gave him no pity. She had stared at him as though he was a stranger.

Reyna reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "These things happen for a reason. Just give it some time. She'll remember."

But would she?

Jason could only hope.


	3. Quaestione Auctoritatem

**A/N: **I've been updating quicker now because I'm on spring break, which is only _one_ week. Should make it two. But anyway, thank you for the reviews, you guys! You're all awesome!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three:<strong>** Quaestione**** Auctoritatem**_  
>Questioning of Authority <em>

In Thalia's mind, she had a distant memory of another camp. This camp was bright, and the never-ending laughter of campers rings in her ear like a constant reminder. Campers canoeing in the lake, campers training at the sides, campers playing basketball at the courts, campers climbing a wall, campers smiling like no tomorrow…this camp represented a whole different part of their demigod reality.

The kids were different than the ones she had just met. They were happier. They all carried a certain light in them that the Romans couldn't obtain. Instead of purple, they wore bright orange shirts, but Thalia couldn't quite make what the words said on the orange shirts just yet. The whole idea seemed very familiar, but it was a concept Thalia couldn't grasp. She knew some of them, but they were all strangers to her.

"_Hey, Thalia!" _

_Thalia turned around, looking up at a tall, pale boy with black hair. He was slim, but no doubt there were lithe muscles along his skin. He was handsome, with his seawater eyes. "What's up, Pinecone?" _

"_Nothing, really. Where's everyone going?" _

"_They're off heading to play capture the flag," he responded, grinning. "Wanna play?" _

_Thalia felt a grin spread on her face. "I am so kicking your ass, Seaweed Brain." _

She blinks her eyes twice, and her memory deceives her.

Now, she's looking at camping grounds that is a far cry from the one she's been dreaming of. There were physical training grounds, and the entire camp had buildings divided into respective five sections. It was built like and highly inspired to look like a real military camp, which Thalia had no doubt that this place was. The place was pretty nice and impressive, despite the barbed-wire fence with the high spires sticking at the top that surrounded the outside of the camp, keeping the campers in and blocking all strangers out.

Kenneth was the one that had gotten the purple t-shirt for her. He had taken one look at her before entering the store, and coming out with a size XXS or something. He had grinned at her before throwing her the purple shirt, commenting how the skinny the First Legion's consul was.

Thalia realized that Hazel and Kenneth were one of the friendlier campers here. This place was known for their harsh, strict, disciplined, and militaristic style of running a camp. Thalia didn't expect hugs or high-fives. Lupa didn't even run the camp—the legions ran the camp themselves. They were in their own conformity, knowing how to handle and train themselves without any help.

Lupa would only guide, but she would not instruct.

Lifting her arm, Thalia observes her new tattoo. SPQR.

Before Thalia opened her mouth to ask what those letters meant, a clear voice spoke in her mind with such clarity, as though someone was speaking to her right now to her face. _Senatus Populusque Romanus_. The Senate and the People of Rome. The words felt like some forsaken taboo on her arm.

They stepped into the large lobby of the building with a roman numeral I on it. It happened to be at the center of the courtyards, which didn't surprise Thalia at all. But the interior did surprise her. Mosaic tiles littered the floor, and large columns held the lobby in place. Roman embellishes were lined within the decorum and the furniture, and up at the ceiling of the lobby was a full-length painting of Venice adorned with golden pallets of frame. At the front was a large fireplace, embroidered with tiny sculptures that describe war.

"It's too much, isn't it?" Hazel nodded over around the room. "But it's our home. The First Legion always gets the best. We live tough lives, so we get something in return."

The main room was split into many corridors, leading to smooth, double-arched mahogany doors. On each door would have a symbol at the center, made out of pure silver. She saw a door with a peacock, one with a trident, another with a crescent moon, and so on and so on. Each symbol with their respective god or goddess.

"These quarters are designed by the gods and goddesses themselves," Hazel explained. She pointed to the door with a single lightning bolt on it. It was quite obvious which god represented that door. "That one's yours. Since you'll be living with Jason, you'll have an adjacent living room that connects your two rooms together. He's already taken the left one, so take the right."

Kenneth wiggled his eyebrows. "You'll love it. This is Jupiter's quarters we're talking about."

"Thank you," Thalia replied over her shoulder, pausing to eye the great arched door before entering it.

Thalia immediately turned to the right to her designated room. Instead of the room being square, it was more circular, like a crystal-clear dome. The walls were arched and curved into a transparent, aquarium-like tank that was her ceiling. On the outside of the clear ceiling was the night sky, clouded omnisciently with dark puffs of clouds. She was sure by morning, the clouds would part and the sun would shine so brightly, she'd be awake before the other legion members. The large bed was dressed in simple white satin and enriched gold covers. There was a desk, and numerous sofas in place. The room felt light and airy, as if the room belonged to float in the sky.

It certainly did feel like home to her already.

She opened the door that led to the smaller living room between them. There weren't any other rooms beside Jason's, so Zeus—no, Jupiter must have predicted how many children he would be having before building these living quarter. There was a statue in the corner of Jupiter. He had a strong face, but there was no smile on it. He was stern, his features holding every impression of that of a regal king.

"Do you like it?" a voice caused Thalia to whirl around. It was only Jason. "Your room?"

"I like it," she nodded with an accepting grin. "Even though I feel like I'm walking on a cloud."

Jason chuckled. His gaze softened. "You don't have a weapon, do you?"

"No, I don't."

_Yes, you do. _

Thalia looked around at the voice. It definitely wasn't Jason's. Why were there so many people that could speak to her through her mind? This was like the third person to do so since arriving at this camp.

_Look in your pocket, Thalia. _

In that moment, Thalia felt unsanitary, considering she was still wearing the same jeans and t-shirt as yesterday. She hadn't bothered changing. Biting her lip, she dug her hand into her pocket, immediately feeling something cold touch the tips of her fingers. She took the small object out, putting it close to her face for clear observation. It was slender, colder barrette. Engraved on the gold was a design of silver leaves surrounding a silver eagle.

This had been in her pocket the entire time, and she hadn't noticed. How idiotic was she?

Not knowing what else to do with it, she dangled the golden barrette by the tip. Now what?

_Tap it. _

Of course that would be the reasonable thing to do. Why hadn't she thought of that? Thalia placed the cool object at the center of her palm, aware that Jason was watching her, and she gave a light tap on the embroidered, silvery eagle.

"Oh, _gods_!" she abruptly exclaimed, when the golden barrette shimmered and expanded into a longer object. She was so surprised, she threw the forming barrette across the room.

While being thrown in mid-air, the barrette lengthened into an object with a sharp tip. It was a thin sword, thinner than most regular swords, but it looked strong. The hard metal was constricted in a completely silver hilt, and the sword was thrown until it struck the wall cleanly on the opposite side of the room.

After that, Jason couldn't take it anymore. He started downright laughing in spite of her.

"What the hell?" Thalia stared widely at the barrette that suddenly turned into a weapon. "Aw, man! I could have used that during my fight with Lupa," she muttered in what was a remorseful tone. She narrowed her eyes at Jason, "Don't laugh at me."

"Sorry," he gasped through fits of laughter. "But did you see your face?"

She glared at him. "Hey, it's not my fault I've never seen a barrette transform into a freaking sword."

Thalia walked towards the other end of the room, inspecting the sword that was stuck to the wall. Her fingers skimmed the cold metal of the blade, fingering the silvery hilt delicately. Not to be too prideful of her own weapon or anything, but something about this sword indicated a certain importance above most swords.

Jason took out his own weapon, Ivlivs, which was nothing more than a golden coin. On one side was an image of Julius Caesar, and when flipped, it would turn into a double edged sword. The other side was an image of an axe with the word _Ivlivs _inscribed under it, and when flipped, it would turn into a lance. He flipped it, watching the coin flip right side up with Julius Caesar on it. He gripped the double edged sword, coming to stand on Thalia's side.

He compared the two blades together. "You don't have Imperial Gold," he noted, sensing the dissimilarities of their two swords.

Thalia seemed to agree. "It's Celestial Bronze."

"That's Greek, isn't it?" his eyebrows pulled together.

"Is it? I'm not sure."

"Yeah…" Jason looked at Thalia's sword again.

Thalia instinctively tapped the hilt of the sword, causing the weapon to snap back into the golden barrette. She yawned, the notion expressing her exhaustion. "I'm going to go to sleep now."

Jason nodded. "Your first legion training starts tomorrow."

"Oh, goody," she responded wryly, causing a smile to etch on Jason's face. "Good night, Jason."

"Good night, Thalia." It was the first time he's said her name out loud. It felt natural.

Jason wanted to get past this awkwardness, and he let his face drop the moment Thalia turned around and closed the door to her room. He knew deep down there was this brotherly-sisterly connection between them that he had yet to uncover. He just wanted his older sister back. He wanted her protection, even though he didn't quite need it. He wanted her love because he's been missing it for the past fourteen years.

Celestial Bronze was more common to the Greeks, just as Imperial Gold was to the Romans. To think that Thalia owned a Greek weapon made no sense to him. The Roman camp was the only camp for demigods and heroes. Unless everything he knew was entirely wrong.

* * *

><p><em>Might I say, you look absolutely adorable, Snow, <em>Dakota mused, looking up at Thalia.

Thalia was dressed in the purple camp shirt she had gotten the day before, paired some jeans, and the boots that were found in the closet of her room. She was also given some armor and braces to wear, the amount given to any other Roman. Her black hair was held back by her golden barrette, all hair clipped up except her front bangs.

_You know what makes it even better? You're so tiny, you're gonna catch everyone by surprise when you fight,_ the wolf smiled a smile that lighted up his furry face.

"Thanks, Kota," Thalia deadpanned. She fidgeted, trying to adjust the metal arm braces. "Is it necessary to wear all this armor?"

Dakota snorted. _Do you want to die?_

Thalia rolled her eyes, blue eyes glancing at the wolf. "It's not like I wore any during my fight with Lupa."

_That's because it was only a mock fight. Lupa really wasn't going to kill you._

"Really?" Thalia laughed at the absurdity of the statement.

_Yeah. You need armor to train for the real deal. You need it for all the battles and wars out there. Lupa's fight was only the first level. _

"I didn't think there was a difference. You still have a ninety percent chance of dying."

_Such an optimistic consul you are,_ Dakota retorted.

The arena Dakota lead her to was filled with strange obstacles. There was a disciplined structure that outlined the castigated training of the Romans. The fields extending way deep into the forest. She wasn't the only one dressed up for war. Every camper here seemed to be dressed in full armor.

There were two tight circles surrounded by a large number of campers. They were watching will willful attention, and they were being respectfully quiet of the warriors fighting in the circle. Two girls were in the center, battling it out. One dark-haired girl had a knife, and the other a sword. The drive was to win, and the phrase 'Killing is banned, but maiming is encouraged' applied highly between the two girls. The dark-haired girl with the knife slashed a large line across the other girl's leg, causing the girl's leg to bend forward at an odd angle. The girl took advantage, using her knife to cut across the other girl's shoulder. The girl with the upper-hand grabbed a shield that had lain forgotten on the floor and rammed it roughly on the side of the girl's face.

The defeated girl had twisted unto the ground, her sword dropping from her hand, a fresh bleeding cut running down the side of her ruined face. She fell and remained on the floor, unmoving. It looked like no one was going to help her, as Thalia looked around the impassive faces of the campers. No one was moving forward. The girl who had won spared no glance as she went to face the winner of the other circle.

When Thalia stepped forward, a hand was placed against her elbow, holding her back. "Don't," Hazel muttered with no apparent emotion. "That's normal around here."

"So we're just going to leave her on the floor like that?" Thalia asked, malcontented.

"The goal is to win," Hazel responded. "We don't care about who we defeat. They're not worth our time anymore. We're supposed to be thinking how we're going to take down our next opponent."

Thalia felt somewhat better when some boys carted the defeated and unconscious girl off the field.

"Well, well, look who's here. It's our new little pup."

The voice had belonged to the dark-haired girl with the knife, who had fought with no mercy. She was pale, just like Thalia, and she had black hair, just like Thalia. Only, her hair fell into waves compared to Thalia's straight hair, and this girl's hair was the darkest shade of black ever seen. Her dark brown eyes were narrowed and she wore a haughty expression as she faced Thalia.

"Gwendolyn," the wavy-haired girl supplied with a smirk. "Daughter of Pluto. Get back any of your memories yet?"

Thalia shot a look to Hazel, who glared straight at Kenneth. The boy of Mercury looked like a deer caught in headlights, his jaw dropped. "Sorry, Thalia. I didn't mean to tell."

She dismissed the apology with a small smile. Gwendolyn merely lifted an eyebrow. "I do hope Lupa knows what she's doing, putting _you_ as consul. Only the gods wonder why she would give the position to an amnesiac."

"What?" Thalia asked, as if the words hadn't struck her yet.

"I thought you were forgetful," Gwendolyn put in. "Not stupid."

"_Gwen!" _Jason's clear voice cut through the crowd and the observing campers. "_Shut up_."

The girl seemed to respect her praetor and shied away, but Thalia still held Gwendolyn's gaze. "No, Jason," Thalia added coolly, her hand reaching up to take out the golden barrette. Her black hair instantly fell down to her waist, flowing against the small current of wind that had risen. One tap and the thin sword had appeared in Thalia's hand.

"I don't think you want to challenge her to a sword fight," Kenneth advised in a tense voice.

"Stay out of this, Kenneth," Gwendolyn smiled in anticipation, as though she had been expecting this. She pulled out a short, black sword from her hilt. "Let's get the firsthand experience on how our consul really fights. After all," her smirk widened, "tricks can be played out in the arena with Lupa. But not here."

A black sword. Stygian Iron. She was a child of Hades.

Gwendolyn lunged first, expecting to have her blade strike the pale skin that was equally white as hers, but Thalia snapped her sword up and blocked the incoming attack. Gwendolyn wiped the shocked look off her face, retaliating by pulling her sword back and aiming at the clear space in front of her. She swiped at Thalia's cheek, but the blue-eyed girl's head swerved to the side, hearing the blade swish through the empty air near her ear.

Thalia couldn't really explain it, but her gut could tell her every move Gwendolyn was about to make. Her demigod instincts were guiding her in a way that she couldn't get hit. It became a routine in where Thalia quickly started noticing her opponent's style of fighting. Where a jab to the side with her sword didn't work, then the girl would try counter cutting on the upper level above the waist. Each blow was thrown, but Thalia easily matched it with a parry of her own. At the resounding clash of the swords, Thalia observed the faint pink in Gwendolyn's cheeks, sensing her gratifying frustrations.

Gwendolyn thrust her sword across, and Thalia responded by taking a step back to watch the blade fly in front. Right when the sword was midway, blade down in the air, Thalia brought her sword up and struck the side of the Gwendolyn's sword, winding around and hooking to the hilt of the black sword. With a sharp, sideways thrust, she applied some pressure to her sword to have the Stygian Iron flinging into the air, and clattering to the a few distances away. From impact of hitting the ground, the black sword wobbled before stilling parallel to the ground.

The tip of her sword was tapped against Gwendolyn's neck, Thalia's structure calm, while Gwendolyn was breathing in furious puffs of breath. Thalia's blue eyes trailed down the other girl's arm, noticing how she clenched her hands, and Thalia knew immediately what was to happen next. She quickly threw down her sword, and before Gwendolyn's fist made it to her face, Thalia swiftly covered that fist with her outstretched hand.

Gripping Gwendolyn's wrist, she twisted roughly, earning a muffled cry from the other girl. Clenching her teeth, Thalia's heel landed down impetuously on Gwendolyn's foot. Thalia then used her elbow to jab deeply in Gwendolyn's gut, and not even a mere second after that, Thalia's elbow landed on Gwendolyn's jaw, kindling a splitting crack to sound across the field—a sound that would be a reminder of Gwendolyn's fall.

Thalia unceremoniously let go of the other girl's hand, watching with satisfaction when Gwendolyn fell forward. On the ground, her hand traced her broken jaw, before her finger went to brush across her bruised midsection. She looked up the Jupiter's daughter with transparent defeat, refusing to say anything else.

"Still think I'm playing tricks?" Thalia asked, her eyebrow arched high.

Gwendolyn didn't speak, or look at Thalia's way for that matter.

Hazel didn't cover her grin at all. _Finally_, someone besides Jason had beat Gwendolyn.

A proud grin was lifted on Jason's face. Watching his sister fight was amazing. What amazed him most was how fast Thalia had been in her parries and sword thrusts. He swore her sword techniques were from another planet.

_You've made me proud, daughter._ This was the same voice that had showed her the ways of her golden barrette. Thalia smile sort of giddily that it was her father talking to her. _There will be nothing but victories for you from here on. Be prepared for those who will try to take you down. _


	4. Nullum Vestigium Post

**Chapter Four: Nullum Vestigium Post**_  
>No Trace Left Behind<em>

Annabeth blinked against the sudden light, her eyes aching at the resistance that held her from opening her eyes.

She could tell someone had fed her ambrosia while she was sleeping due to the after taste of the medicine. The buttered popcorn pudding could do wonders to your mouth. She was resting in one of the open canopies of Camp Half-Blood, fully healed with only the pain of remorse. Unlike another, who had woken up to find her memories nonexistent on the other side of the country, Annabeth remembered the events clearer than water, and clearer than anything else.

"Hey, Wise Girl."

Annabeth winced at the voice. This was the very last person she wanted to face.

Percy hadn't changed much over the summer, excluding the fact that he had gotten more athletic-looking, more insanely attractive, and a whole lot taller. Now he was starting to look like a son of the Big Three. The dark circles under those sea green eyes struck Annabeth, telling her he had been trouble sleeping. He looked haggard and tired. She couldn't blame him, considering she's been feeling the same thing in her own fit of coma.

He looked sad. And that was completely unlike him.

"How long have I been out?" Annabeth rasped, her voice scratchy.

Percy shrugged nonchalantly. "A couple days…maybe a week."

The two teens were both silenced when a group of chatty campers walked by. They were laughing and pointing at random things, but they were still happy. The group looked about in their pre-teens, and with their high spirits, they were oblivious to the pain that Percy and Annabeth were currently feeling. When they passed, Percy averted his gaze, unwilling to look at Annabeth. She, on the other hand, couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Percy!" Annabeth let out, tears pooling in her grey eyes. Percy gazed up, expressionless at Annabeth's apology, causing the blonde girl to tear up even more. "I swear I was careful driving here, and everything was going normal and all, and then—then _something_ happened, Percy! The tree wasn't supposed to be there! It just appeared out of nowhere!"

She may have sounded like a lunatic, but she was completely telling the truth.

Two weeks ago marked the first day of summer and the end of school. Annabeth had just gotten her license this year, and she offered to drive Thalia and herself to Camp Half-Blood. Before leaving, they had packed their bags, ready for the summer and ready to train the new campers. It was the end of the war and their spirits had been so high. Thalia had offered to drive, but Annabeth had wanted to prove herself to her friend.

Annabeth had been driving with expertise, easing her way through the crowded streets of New York. She remembered Thalia had joked that this was going to be their death day. Thalia had been half right. One moment Annabeth had been driving up the dirt road that led to the camp, and the next thing she knew, they had entered a foggy place. It was way off, since New York weather was sunny that day, and once the mist had died away, Annabeth didn't have much time to turn before the car went slamming into a tree that hadn't been there before.

She remembered she had her hit head against the wheel; her vision had begun to swirl around. But the moment before blackness took her, Annabeth turned to the right, making sure that Thalia was alright and hopefully in a better condition than she was.

But Thalia was gone.

In the midst of crying, Annabeth had scooted to the side, letting Percy crawl onto the bed. He instantly gathered her shaking form in the circle of his arms, calming her with soothing words.

"It's not your fault, Annabeth," Percy hushed her quietly, his hand running through her honey blonde hair. "It's all just an accident. You had nothing to do with this."

Annabeth sobbed against his shoulder. "B-But I was d-d-driving! I should have b-been more careful!"

"You were careful. I know you were careful, Annabeth."

The next moments were passed with Annabeth trying to calm down. Her sobs were beginning to disappear, but endless tears streamed down her eyes. She wondered if they would ever stop. She was glad that Percy put up with her, finding comfort in his arms.

"Did you find a clue as to where she might be?" she asked quietly.

Percy sighed, and the sound broke Annabeth's heart. "There's no trace of her anywhere. It's like she disappeared into thin air."

It hurt him to talk about Thalia, especially given the situation they were in. Annabeth's car had crashed right below the hill of Camp Half-Blood, and Percy had been the one that stayed down there the longest, trying to find any trace as to where Thalia might be. There were none. It was as though she was never there. The only evidence that Thalia had been there were her suitcases that were secured in the trunk of the car.

The son of Poseidon remembered feeling horrified at the idea of Thalia joining Artemis' Hunt. At the end the Titan War, the gods and goddesses were rewarding their children, and naturally, Artemis offered Thalia the position of being the goddess's first lieutenant. Percy wanted to object, but it had been Thalia's decision.

He could breathe normally again when Thalia turned down the offer, thinking the idea of immortality as the wrong way to go for her. Of course, Percy also turned down his immortality at a chance of becoming a god. After the council of the gods had been dismissed, he had gone straight to Thalia and asked her out. Needlessly to say, he had never regretted that decision.

"I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend when she got to camp," he murmured inaudibly, his chin resting on top of her blonde curls. "You know, to make it official. I had everything planned out and I practiced what I was going to say…"

"Percy—"

"I love her," he claimed, his seawater eyes starting to mist over.

Annabeth sniffed. "I'm really sorry, Percy."

She would just have to keep apologizing and apologizing because it was the only thing she could do. Regardless of what he said or what anyone said otherwise, she still considered the entire incident her fault.

* * *

><p>"Why don't you just tell her?"<p>

"It's not that simple, Reyna," Jason replied, a hint of frustration to his tone. "She's new here, she has no idea how she got here, Lupa's made her consul without telling her, and all her memories are gone. Thalia's got a lot of stuff on her plate right now, and I don't want to add any more to it."

Reyna grinned, in spite of the situation. "She's beautiful, isn't she? She looks nothing like you though."

"Thanks. That makes me feel a _whole_ lot better," Jason muttered sarcastically.

The two were sitting in the lobby of their building, resting after a long day of training. There were other First Legion members around the lobby, either sitting at sofas or the tables, so the two kept their voices to a low volume.

"But you can't tell her?"

Jason stared up at the painted ceiling in exasperation. "I don't want to tell her I'm her brother and freak her out. I think it's easier this way if she remembered it herself."

Reyna frowned. "But that way is longer. And plus, there are consequences of not telling her sooner. She might get angry with you when she finally remembers."

"I'll take my chances."

Before the daughter of Minerva had a chance to respond, a body plopped on the couch next to where Reyna and Jason were sitting on the floor. Jason tensed when he figured out it was Thalia, hoping the girl didn't hear their conversation. She didn't seem to hear any of it, taking the bright and eager smile on her face to consideration.

Reyna was right. His sister _was_ beautiful.

Why couldn't he have looked like her?

"Guess what?" she started, her smile showing perfect, white teeth. She could definitely do a commercial for Colgate. When the other two didn't guess or say anything, she continued, "I just had a memory flashback."

"You did?" Reyna piped in, interested. She sent Jason a sly look, one that read: _This memory could be about you._

He sent one back: _I highly doubt that._

Thalia missed their silent conversation. "I was talking to a satyr."

Jason's response was sending another pointed look to Reyna. _Told you_. He seemed to be saying that a lot lately.

At Reyna's request, Thalia went into simple detail of the little snippet of her memory.

_Thalia nodded to the music. She cocked her ear before making a face. "Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?" _

_A boy with curly brown hair looked hurt. "I did." _

"_Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame," Thalia rolled her eyes at the boy. "Couldn't you have asked for Green Day or something? Anything but Jesse McCartney." _

"_Green who?" _

"_Never mind. Let's dance." _

"_But I can't dance!" Grover looked frightened at the idea of dancing. _

_Thalia titled her head to the side. "Why not?" _

"_Does the term 'satyr' mean nothing to you? I can't dance with hooves!" he hissed quietly. _

"_You can if I'm leading," Thalia prodded, taking a hold of his hand and pulling him out onto the dance floor. "We're supposed to be acting natural. Come on, goat boy." _

"Is this Grover your boyfriend?" Reyna questioned after Thalia was finished.

Thalia shook her head. "I don't think so. He seems only like a friend to me."

For some reason, when the idea of 'boyfriend' was mulled around her head, she kept thinking of that tall guy with the sea green eyes and the black hair from her other memory. She didn't know his exact name, but for now, she'll have to do by calling that unnamed guy 'Seaweed Brain'.

Jason was glad that she was retrieving her memories back, even if they came bit by bit. He really hoped that one of them would actually be about him next time. For now, he would have to be patient and wait.

* * *

><p>With brutal force, Percy thrust Riptide down on the heated spear, the other weapon skidding to the ground and out of his opponent's hands. Gritting his teeth, he jabbed her shoulder with the hilt of his sword, and used the flat side of his blade to connect with her boots, completely knocking her into the air until her back was pressed against the ground.<p>

Clarisse La Rue sat up and glared hatred towards Percy. "What the _hell_, Jackson!"

"It's not my fault you had a couple of weak spots."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" she seethed, angry at being bested. "This isn't about beating me or my weak spots! This is about losing your precious girlfriend to god knows where!"

"Shut up," he snarled, staring down at the girl who had been a bully to him when he had been younger.

She smirked. "You miss her. So you take out your anger on me."

"Why would I take my anger out on you?" Percy retorted, sounding unlike himself. "You're not even worth my time."

With an outraged roar, Clarisse was up on her feet again, her spear gripped in her hand. She had meant to stab Percy, to wound him until he was bleeding, but as the tip of her spear managed to scrape along Percy's skin, nothing happened. Not even a scratch. She had forgotten that he was bearing the Curse of Achilles.

Percy narrowed his eyes, agreeing to play the kind of game Clarisse was playing. He had never resorted to maiming anyone else before. He thrust his sword along his arm, hearing the sickening tearing of flesh when the tip pierced her skin. She grunted in pain, the blood dripping down her arm. Still, Clarisse did not give up. She lunged violently, so recklessly that her spear was not aiming at Percy. He took the chance and parried the sloppy attack, his other hand reaching towards the ground for a shield. Gripping the hard metal, he brought his hand up and thwacked Clarisse's head with it. Sensing that she was still conscious, he then rammed the shield under her chin with enough force to have her flying back.

She had fallen, her defeated form stretched out on the ground below him. He looked at her, seeing any signs of her getting up before he kicked the spear out of her hand with his foot.

He then glared at the Ares cabin that had been watching the ordeal, his hardened gaze challenging any one of them to go against him. None of them stepped up. Percy almost laughed at the irony—no Ares kid would ever turn down a fight.

He sheathed his sword, stepping to the side as two brawny Ares kids entered the field and lifted Clarisse up, their intention to take her to the infirmary. Percy wasn't proud of what he had done. He hadn't meant to put that much damage on the daughter of Ares. Scratching the back of his neck, he walked away from the training field, and away from it all.

Percy walked to the one place he's visited every day.

Annabeth's car was fixed and removed away from the scene. Although he knew Annabeth was telling the truth, he couldn't imagine how her car had crashed into a tree in the first place. The main and specific reason being that there wasn't a tree there at all. There were only spaces of grass. He picked a random spot and sat down.

But it wasn't like Annabeth to sprout a tale like that. She was the daughter of Athena for god's sake! Why would she even have the need to lie? There was no evidence that a tree had been there. Any tree had never been there at all. That still doesn't explain that the rather large dent on the hood of Annabeth's car when he and the others had come to investigate the scene more closely.

He ran his hand through his hair, sighing for the umpteenth time that day. After the Titan War, all Percy wanted was some piece and quiet. Of course, with his case of ADHD, that quiet would get boring over time, but it would still be nice if it was given to him. He didn't want another hard puzzle to solve.

Why were the gods doing this to him?

Was it for their pure enjoyment?

"I assure you right now that it is not for our pure enjoyment."

At the voice, Percy turned to the side, surprised to find a woman in black robes. She lifted her shroud, revealing a beautiful, yet proud face, hardened with some extent of suffering. She sat cross-legged next to Percy, eyeing him keenly with her observant eyes. Percy was probably the only one that could see her at the moment.

"Hera," he nodded at her.

"Only the spiritual part of me," the Queen of the gods corrected lightly. "I am trapped in a cage, but that is none of your concern right now. I digress."

"You hate all children of Zeus if they're not yours," Percy's eyes flashed angrily. Thalia was a child of Zeus. "You had something to do with her disappearance, didn't you? What did you do with her?"

"Peace, Perseus," she stated calmly.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

Hera was displeased at his unwillingness to listen. "I only did what was necessary. Do not worry too much about her. She is safe where she is. She is well protected."

Percy snorted. "So you just plucked her like she was nothing and placed her somewhere else? How is that _necessary_?" he threw back, his tone patronizing.

"She is the key to setting me free."

"You're a goddess," he put in. "Why can't you set yourself free?"

Hera smiled wantonly. "Some powers are even greater than the gods. I can be in many places at once, but once my essence is caught, there is no escape for me. Once I am contained for so long, I grow weaker by the day."

"Is that why Zeus closed Olympus?"

"Correct," Hera nodded slowly in affirmation. "You have to understand, Perseus, I may have done something considerably reckless, but it was the only way. It was the only way to bring peace. Our enemy counts on our divisions, and if we are divided, we will be destroyed. Thalia Grace had to be taken away."

"Like some sort of sacrifice?" Anger surged through Percy again.

"As a peace offering. Not only is Thalia needed to set me free from my prison, but she is also much needed for what is to come. She is the bridge that would overcome a millennia of hatred, and the reason that would unite two different sides together as one. Part of Thalia's journey is returning to her starting point, which is here."

"Wait—"

"I've said too much," Hera decided. "I cannot tell you more. May the gods be with you, Perseus."

With a resounding _pop_, she was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** This chapter is mainly focused on the other side of the camp, and how Percy and Annabeth deal with Thalia's disappearance.

**Disclaimer:** Thalia's memory of Grover was taken from _The Titan's Curse_. Some statements in Hera's explanation of Thalia to Percy are taken from _The Lost Hero_.


	5. Regulas Game

**Chapter Five: Regulas Game**_  
>Rules of the Game<em>

Thalia didn't know the true meaning of Consul of the First Legion until the Roman campers started coming to her for help towards their swordsmanship techniques, and other forms of fighting styles. She may have lost her memory, but the only thing she remembered so vividly was how to fight like a warrior. It's not like she remembered her skills all at once. The moves came at different and random times, and it came so naturally that she really didn't have to think when facing her opponent. In more ways than one, her sword was just a longer extension of her arm.

It was hard to teach some of the campers her moves, considering she was also learning these along the way. Say if an opponent was about to strike, she would know the right move how to easily deflect it. It was more of an internal gut feeling than anything else. But how was she supposed to teach that? She couldn't just well tell them to follow their gut. Those instructions would be entirely too vague.

"So you twist it like this," Thalia explained, turning the hilt of her sword over and under her hand, "and once the sword is on the other side, you quickly snap it up," her sword snapped, causing her opponent's sword to jiggle out of the hand, "and you use the flat side of your blade to push it away." Quicker than lightning, Thalia slapped the side of her blade against the other sword, the result being that the sword flew away from the owner.

Bobby, the boy she had been teaching, and who had been her opponent, nodded with an understanding look. "Hitting them where they least expect it," he muttered quietly. "That's a good way how to disarm someone."

"How do you do it so quickly though?" Kenneth asked. "I can barely see your movements. One moment you guys are sparring, and the next, his sword is disarmed from him."

Thalia wiggled her wrist. "It's all on the wrist. You just need to know how to control it."

Kenneth sent her a blank look that clearly said: _Teach me. Now._

"Alright," Thalia couldn't help but grin at the look. "Bobby, pick up your sword. You two are going to fight each other, with Bobby using only offensive tactics, and Kenneth being on the defense."

Once Bobby had picked up his sword, Thalia had said, "Go" and the two boys were off.

Out of pure nature of the Romans, Bobby attacked brutally. Thalia realized the aggressiveness to win was normal around here, but she was still just a bit hindered by it. Something told her that in her old life, when all her memories were in intact, she hadn't learned to fight the way the legions did.

Bobby struck his sword in rapid and consecutive lengths, and Kenneth retaliated by using a different blocking method upon each offensive attack. Thalia found the right movement on when Kenneth should have twisted his sword and carried out what she had just taught them, but the boy had missed the chance. He had twisted the sword just a moment too late, when Bobby's sword was out of his range. Kenneth realized his mistake, but Bobby had already seized the moment and forced his blade down, knocking Kenneth's sword out of his hand.

"You were just a second too late," she commented as Kenneth cursed to himself and picked up his sword.

Kenneth nodded. "I know."

"Let's try again. I'm going to help you this time, so try to contain yourself." She had meant it as a joke, but a tiny blush appeared on the boy's cheeks.

While the two boys sparred again, her blue eyes remained on the clashing of the swords. Three minutes into the fight, she had come to stand behind Kenneth, and at the right particular moment, her hand stretched out and latched onto Kenneth's sword-wielding hand. The son of Hermes—_Mercury_ tensed, but still remained on his objective of deflecting Bobby. Once Bobby's sword was angled in a certain way, Thalia rolled Kenneth's wrist, snapped his sword up, and finally disarmed his opponent.

"Oh," was the only word Kenneth managed.

Thalia patted his back good-naturedly. "Keep practicing. You need to work more with your wrist than your arm."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Bobby asked with knitted brows.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I see Hazel calling me." Thalia squinted in the distance across the field.

Sure enough, Hazel was waving her hand at her, beckoning the daughter of Jupiter forward.

"Practice," Thalia reminded Kenneth over her shoulder before making her way towards Hazel.

Hazel was practicing her archery skills with the other Apollo kids from the First Legion, and Thalia didn't know why, but over on the other girl's side, it was so damn bright. Maybe because the offspring of the sun god were all together, and they just radiated sunlight to the maximum degree. It was nearly blinding to be within a radius of them.

"Hi," Thalia averted her gaze from the light.

It would have been a good time to have her sunglasses with her, if she had any.

Hazel grinned in greeting. "I saw you working with Kenneth and Bobby. You think you could help us?"

"Um, no."

"What?" Hazel's incredulous voice asked. "Why not?"

"Because I can tell you right now that I'm a horrible archer."

"But you're the First Legion's consul. You've got to be good at everything," she pointed out.

Thalia mock glared at her. "Don't jinx it. Okay, look…" she took Hazel's bow and arrow, her face pulled into bewilderment as she decided which arm to hold the bow, and which to use the arrow.

She had decided her left hand for the bow. The weapon was completely foreign in Thalia's hands. She stretched out her left hand, gripping it by the middle. With her other hand, she placed the arrow parallel to the thin, yet sturdy string that slung across the smoothly-carved bow. Spreading her feet apart, like she's seen the Apollo kids do before, Thalia abstracted the vision of her eyes and pulled the arrow with the string until her elbow was far back beyond her head. Giving it a random hunch, she let go.

The arrow went soaring, spiraling into the air…and landing at least thirty feet away from the target board.

"See?" Thalia told Hazel, unmindful of the chuckles that came from Apollo's kids.

Hazel laughed. "That was amazing, Thalia."

"Quiet," Thalia rolled her eyes at the girl.

A group of teenagers their age walked by, a mix of children from different gods and goddesses. However, when they passed Hazel and Thalia, their eyes turned towards the two girls with imperative abhorrence. The group looked at the girls with such loathing and bitterness, Thalia could practically see the cold ire burning in each of their eyes.

When the hostile-filled group was out of earshot, Thalia asked, "What's up with that?"

"They hate us," Hazel shrugged as if no big deal.

"Well, I know that," Thalia replied wryly. "Think you can elaborate on that?"

"They think the legion system is being discriminating. Like we're putting all the worst warriors in the Fifth Legion, and we're putting the best and only the best in the First Legion."

"Isn't that how it's supposed to be?"

"Exactly," Hazel agreed firmly. "The lower legions, especially the Second Legion, think that all the legions should be diverse. They want some of the best fighters to go into the lower legions, and some of the worst fighters to be placed in the upper legions, so that the system's _fair_," she spat the last word like poison. "You have to work hard to get into the First Legion. You can't just be placed there because of amateur injustice."

Thalia took the time to observe the training fields. How hadn't she realized it sooner, she had no idea. It seemed that all the First Legion members were getting the brunt of all glares from the other legions.

"And have they done anything about it?" Thalia asked, her gaze refusing to move when a Third Legion boy rudely sneered at her.

"No riots or rallies so far," Hazel replied, also glaring at the sneering boy. "They're also furious that the First Legion gets the best living quarters of all the legions. I guess they could be angry about that, but it's not like the living place was _given_ to us. We earned it on our own."

Thalia nodded, conceding with Hazel every step of the way. She's seen the way the First Legion's fought and how they associated with each other. They were willing to beat the crap out of each other to win. Of all the legions, she would say the First Legion was the most violent. The definitely deserved whatever they got, not because Thalia was in the First Legion too, but because of what they had accomplished in their lifetimes.

Without Lupa around, they were practically the leaders of the camp.

"Hey, Hazel?"

"Hmm?"

Thalia looked rather sheepish. "How old am I?"

Hazel raised an eyebrow. "You don't know how old you are?" She paused when Thalia passed her a look. "Oh, right, you forgot your memory." The daughter of Apollo ignored Thalia's snort, and placed her hands on the other girl's slim hips, pushing Thalia away so she could see her fully.

"Well…" Hazel started. "I'd say you're about sixteen. Maybe a couple months older than Jason, which is weird considering you're his sis—" before she finished her sentence, her eyes widened and her hand immediately clamped over her mouth.

"Considering I'm his what?" Thalia asked, prodding the other girl.

"Nothing. Never mind."

"No," Thalia argued. "You said something. What was it?"

Hazel averted her gaze. "Er—"

"Considering I'm his what?" Thalia repeated with minor impatience.

"Considering…" _Shit. Shit. Shitty shit._ "Considering you're his…friend."

Thalia paused to stare at her. "Hazel, that makes no—"

Something slapped against the side of her head, breaking Thalia from her statement. She looked at the thing that had hit her, it being a thick, white piece of cloth. There were no pretty decorations on it. It was plain. She looked up to find the culprit that threw it at her, only to find Gwendolyn's smirking face.

"Uh oh," Hazel muttered under her breath. "We're playing right now?"

"Playing what?" Thalia inquired, alarm in her voice. She knew by now that a game in legion training was much more than a game.

"Hurry and tie that cloth around your neck. Good luck," Hazel told her before running a few distances away.

"Good luck with _what_?" she yelled after the retreating girl.

Confused as hell, Thalia did what she was told and tied the white cloth around her neck. Looking around, she noticed that only two other campers had the same white cloth tied around their necks. The other two campers looked pale, but a proud determination was showing in their facial expressions, refusing to look the least bit of weak.

_What was going on?_

The people started swarming in. At _her_.

Thalia ducked, narrowly missing an arrow that had been aimed at her. Once she got up, her arm intuitively shooting up to deflect a sword from an oncoming attack. She batted away the intruding sword and elbowed the girl at her midsection. A hand shot out from the crowd of attackers, trying to grab at the cloth around her neck. Fisting her hand, she knocked that other hand away, her fist coming in contact with a slim wrist. It made a cracking noise as that hand disappeared. So the point of the game was to gang up on the person with the white cloth.

Nice.

But what she didn't understand was why they were trying to take the white cloth away, when they knew that once the white cloth was in their possession, they would be the new victim.

One kid from Ares—no, Mars (why did she keep mixing them up?) had his sword swinging wildly above his head. It swung down with much force, and before it struck Thalia, she flipped her flat blade facing against the offensive attack. She took a step to the left and jabbed in, her sword coming to contact with the boy's skin tissue. With a punch to his cheek, she pulled her sword out and pushed the boy back, watching him fall. A new coat of crimson blood stained her blade. She looked down in panic, checking to see if he was still alive. Thank the gods; there was still life in him.

Kenneth was her next opponent, but she had him down in a couple of seconds. In spite of him, Thalia had used the same movement she had taught to him and Bobby. His response was only a glare, in which she grinned back. That grin was wiped away when Gwendolyn came storming in. Adrenaline was pumping through Thalia now, and she had disarmed the other girl with only two strokes of her sword.

"I can't beat you," she said lowly.

"I'm glad you acknowledged that," Thalia remarked, removing the sword that was pointed at Gwendolyn's throat. "Oh, and thanks for starting the game without explaining the rules. Just because I'm new, doesn't make me an exception, right?" she smiled at the other girl in a sardonic manner.

Before Gwendolyn responded, Thalia's arm was thrown out around Gwendolyn's head, her nimble fingers catching the arrow that would have punctured the back of Gwendolyn's neck. The daughter of Pluto stared at the weapon mutely, internally questioning why the other girl had saved her.

Running away from the girl, Thalia jumped, avoiding a spear that had been thrown. Her sword touched with another blade, swinging aerially in circular motions as she struck the defending force of her opponent. Spinning her sword, she thrust the hilt of her sword into the guy's face, causing his nose to bleed. Since he was pre-occupied with that, she slammed her sword's hilt down on the junction between the guy's neck and shoulder. He had fallen right after that.

"_Stop!"_ Reyna's voice yelled, echoing across the field.

All fighting ceased. Of the three victors, who managed to obtain the white cloth in the end, was Thalia, Jason—no surprise there, and Aiden, son of Hephaestus. Or Vulcan. Whatever.

Needless to say, they were all members of the First Legion.

And just then, the horn blared, signaling the hour of dinner.

She wiped the blood off her sword, flicking it on the ground. With a slight tap, the sword had turned into her useful barrette, which she used to clip up her hair in a sloppy ponytail. She fell into to step with Jason, who slowed down to walk with her.

"That wasn't fair of Gwendolyn to do that to you," Jason commented the moment she was right next to him. It wasn't fair, considering Thalia had been the only one clueless of the objective of the game.

"It's okay. I think I figured it out," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"She still shouldn't have done it."

Thalia smiled at his concern. "Don't worry about it."

At dinner, Thalia sat with four of her closest friends. She found herself sitting with them every day now. That included Jason, Reyna, Hazel, and Kenneth. Dakota was also a very good friend of hers, but he was a wolf, and it wasn't like he ate in the dining hall like the rest of the campers.

Since they had come right after training, they all had dug into their food. The first fifteen minutes had been thoroughly silent, the only noises heard were food being chewed and swallowed, and drinks being gulped down. It wasn't mouth-watering delicious food or anything else like that—they were just really hungry.

"Another day of intense training tomorrow," Kenneth noted.

"Isn't it like that everyday?" Thalia countered placidly.

Reyna laughed. "No, we're training for the assessment that's coming next week."

"Assessment?"

"You got that right, consul," Kenneth smiled cheekily.

"An assessment happens every six months," Jason explained. "The first assessment is always in the coldest weather, and the second one is in the hottest. For five days, Lupa throws all the legions out in the woods at random places. Within our legions, only three can be in a group. The only thing a person can carry is one weapon. Each group is supposed to fight each other until the last ones remain standing after the five days are up."

"Do we fight to the death?" Thalia asked.

Jason shook his head. "Only until your opponent and his or her team is unconscious."

"And we're supposed to just leave them like that in the woods?"

"During the assessment, we're to wear these metal detectors that the Minerva children and the Vulcan children have come up with," Reyna answered, given that she was a child of Minerva. "These detectors allow Lupa to know where we are at any time in the forest. When you're conscious, the light on the detector is green. Once you're unconscious, the detector will beep and turn red, signaling Lupa that you're out. When she founds out you're unconscious, she sends one of her wolves to fetch you."

"It's not that bad," Hazel added lightly. "Most of the time, we can find food on our own. Hopefully, there would be some rabbits or deer around."

_In five days, we're supposed to maul each other with no food or water or any medicine for that matter, _Thalia thought darkly, touching her glass of water to her lips. _It's just another one of Lupa's games._

That's what the assessment was in the end.

A game.


	6. Primoris Assessment: Partis I

**A/N: **What happened to the reviews? You guys were doing so good too! But anyway, thank you for those who reviewed for more than one chapter. I really appreciate it. This story runs on reviews! :)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six: Primoris Assessment- Partis I<strong>_  
>First Assessment- Part I <em>

"I wonder how these things work," Thalia mused, slipping her hand through the circle opening of the cold metal detector that was making a whole bunch of beeping noises. It finally quieted once the contraption settled on her wrist, snapping together with a silent click, displaying the light of a bright green color.

"Ask the kids of Minerva or Vulcan," Kenneth grumbled. "They're the ones who made it."

The son of Mercury was tense, as were the rest of the legions. After a week of hard-bound, intense training that could rattle anyone to the core, the day of the first assessment finally dawned upon them. During breakfast, most of the campers were too busy stuffing their stomachs as much as they could, figuring that it would be the last decent meal they would have before they would be placed in the wilderness, fighting for survival. The dining hall had been oddly quiet, with the clinks of forks and spoons scraping against plates and the natural sound of eating.

Breakfast that day was mandatory, considering the metal detectors would be distributed along the tables. So it didn't matter if you were too nervous to eat, or that you just didn't want to eat—you just had to be there or automatic punishment would be ensued. Once you got it, you have to put it on at once.

"The first assessment's worse than the second one," Kenneth told her. "Because it's in cold weather, the animals are less likely to come out. We'll have no food, and we'll be freezing our asses off."

Thalia found it really strange that the weather had suddenly shifted along the week. Last week it had been a bright and warm week, and when she woke up this morning to look at the clear ceiling of her room, she found that the clouds were dark and snow was pilfering the ground.

"Why is it cold all of the sudden?" she asked. "Isn't it still June?"

"It's the first of July."

"We're in California, right?" When Kenneth nodded with his mouth filled with food, Thalia shook her head, "The weather here is so bipolar."

The dismissal bell was rung, and Thalia shoved the last of her toast into her mouth, hoping that would at least last her the rest of the day. Hopping off the table, she followed the crowd right onto the field, where the groups would be formed. Out on the field, the campers hastily ran around, putting on armor and choosing the one weapon they could bring.

Although it was highly dangerous, and slightly reckless, Thalia preferred less armor on herself. She did her own little study over the past three weeks she's been at this camp, and she noticed she moved a bit faster and more efficient with less armor. Of course, that meant that she was an easy and open target, making it risky. She only chose to wear the armor plate that covered her torso to her waist, and a pair of arm braces. Her one weapon was already in her hair.

A hush fell over, the campers standing straight and erect in the crowd, despite the chilling weather. The straining mood lessened when white puffs of snow fell from the sky. Lupa's tall figure moved along the campers, and Thalia realized that it's the first time since she's seen the woman since the day she left her in the dining hall, after naming her as one of the First Legion.

Lupa stared expressionless at her campers. "You know the drill. You have ten seconds."

And that left the campers scrambling around, grabbing onto the two other partners to make a group. Thalia took a total of two steps before she was grabbed by the wrist and hauled to the side. Her eyes trailed up to see the arm of Kenneth, and to his side was Hazel, who was gazing expectantly towards them. Thalia felt better knowing that she was in a group with people she could trust.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, campers already divided by groups of three. She found Jason looking back at her, giving her a smile of encouragement. Thalia smiled back, noticing he was in a group with Reyna and Gwendolyn. Thalia hoped that within the five days, she wouldn't have to encounter his group.

"Aulus?" Lupa called quietly.

A tall man, about twenty five or so, appeared beside the Roman activities director. He was one of Lupa's closest advisors, and one of the wolves to her ultimate pack. With his hands folded behind his back, he turned to the woman.

"Yes, my lady?"

"You've counted the number of campers present, correct?"

Aulus nodded. "There should be an even number distributed amongst the groups."

"Interesting," Lupa pondered, index finger tapping against her chin. "Tell me, Aulus, if the number you counted was indeed an even number, why is there one group with only two members?"

In the next half hour, Lupa's wolves came to the field and lead each group to a different part of the forest. During that time, the groups already dispersed in the woods were not allowed to find each other and fight just yet. Thalia smiled again, noticing a familiar russet-colored wolf making his way towards her group.

_Hey there, Snow,_ Dakota greeted cheerfully, a contrast to what the rest were actually feeling.

"Hi, Kota."

Kenneth raised his eyebrow at Thalia talking to the wolf, but didn't say anything else. Hazel, however, so encompassed in her thoughts didn't notice the animal and girl conversing with each other.

_Don't worry,_ the wolf added to her. _I've found a perfect place to put your group at. It has a whole bunch of pretty eucalyptus trees. _

"Won't they be covered in snow?" Thalia gave him a skeptical look.

_Oh. Forgot about that. _True to his word, Dakota led them through the forest, to an almost empty glade filled with nothing but snow-covered eucalyptus trees. _Good luck to you and your friends, Snow. May the gods be with you. _

Thalia let her fingers brush through the russet fur, scratching the space between Dakota's ears, and causing those pointed ears to twitch back in response to her soothing touches. She petted him more before bending down and giving him a quick peck at the crown of his head before beckoning him goodbye.

"So," Hazel spoke for the first time since they grouped together, "are you guys ready?"

"Oh, yeah," Kenneth sarcastically responded, sharpening his blade against the edge of a tree. "Look forward to this every six months."

"We need to be careful this time," Hazel advised her two teammates. "Especially considering how the other legions feel about the First Legion, this is the perfect time for them to get back at us. The lower legions are probably forming together allies at this instant. They're main goal would be to hunt down the entire First Legion before they turn against each other."

"You've got to be kidding me," Thalia mumbled, obviously displeased at the news.

Did _all_ the other legions carry a grudge against the First Legion?

Hazel was hardened and still. "I'm not kidding."

"Which is why these assessments are always such a _joy_ to us First Legion members," Kenneth drawled. "It's the time where the lower legions have a chance to gang up on us."

"If they're going out forming alliances, isn't that breaking the rules?" Thalia pointed out.

"Lupa doesn't care because she knows once the alliances defeat their enemies, the alliances would split into separate groups again and hunt each other. It's always been like that."

"Then what's the point of an alliance in the end?" Thalia wondered out loud. "I think we should stay just as we are. That way, it's less people to watch out for. No alliance."

"Agreed," Hazel responded smoothly, while Kenneth nodded.

And then, suddenly, a loud ring echoed throughout the woods. It sounded like a loud bell—the noise reminded Thalia of the large bells that were on top of church towers to signify the starting of Mass for those who believed in Christ.

The game had begun.

Sounding of footsteps was near.

"Let's use the trees," Thalia suggested, observing the many trees surrounding them.

Kenneth raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Look around, Kenneth. We're surrounded by trees. We could use them to our advantage."

"How?" Hazel asked next.

A smile spread on Thalia's face. "Do any of you know how to climb a tree?"

Nearly ten minutes later, the tree teens were secured on the branches of the trees, making little noise as possible. They were crouched low to branch to get the overlook of the opponents that should happen to come by. It was a good thing that they were all very excellent tree climbers.

The rhythmic thudding of footsteps signaled the coming of another group. By their appearance, it seemed that Hazel had been right in her prediction. The in coming group was not made up of only three, but nine legion members from the lower levels. Thalia recognized at least two of them from being the same boy and girl that had glared at her and Hazel with hatred the other day. This group was one of the many that dared threaten the perfect Roman legion system.

"A group's been here," a tall, blond boy knelt and touched the ground, fingering the moisture. "The snow's wet, and it looks as though they've just stepped on it."

A brunette girl touched his shoulder. "Maybe they went up north."

"No," the blond boy said firmly. "They're still around here. I can tell they're from the First Legion."

_You ready?_ Kenneth mouthed first to Thalia, then to Hazel.

Thalia nodded slowly, trying not to make any quick movements. _You first,_ she mouthed to Hazel.

Hazel bent lower, balancing more on her left foot as her right knee lengthened out from the branches. Pulling an arrow from her quiver as quietly as possible, she notched it on her bowstring. Finding her aim, she let go, the only noise being that the arrow sliced through the air and struck flesh, meeting its target. The blond boy cried out in pain, the arrow protruding from his shoulder blade and he flinched before slumping forward into the snow. His detector beeped before turning red.

The remaining eight members of the group jumped from the surprised attack, looking wildly around at where the arrow had come from.

"The trees!" yelled the brunette girl. "They're hiding in the trees!"

Thalia bit her lip from laughing at the girl, who had just pointed out the obvious.

Another boy, this time his hair a shade of light chestnut, stepped forward carefully. He bent near the unconscious blond boy, touching the feathers of the arrow. "These are Hazel's arrows," the boy murmured, observing closely the golden fletchings.

"Hazel's aligned herself with Thalia and Kenneth," a girl spoke up from the group.

At the mentioned three First Legion members, the eight group members automatically brought out their weapons. Kenneth had rolled his eyes at their lack of sense, thinking that they should have been armed since the bell had rung. No wonder they needed to team up and form alliances.

They were all so incredibly stupid.

Kenneth chose the time to jump from the tree, the tip of his sword pointed downwards, slashing the chestnut-haired boy's back open as his feet touched the snowy ground. The detector beeped and turned red before the boy even hit the ground, blood staining the white substance. At that moment, everyone noticed Kenneth's being and advanced towards him. Some were warded off, with the firing of Hazel's arrows.

As Kenneth busied himself, Thalia let her legs dangle over as she flipped herself over, hanging onto the sturdy branch, watching everything from an upside-down point of view. Tapping the brunette girl on the shoulder, Thalia vigorously backhanded the girl, sending the girl's head snapping in the opposite direction. That had been enough to render the girl to fading blackness.

A boy from the opposing group was heading straight for her, his knife held high. Thalia used her hanging body to swing herself horizontally, and when the boy had made a swipe with his knife, he had missed her by much. Thalia swung back, driving her sword through the boy's side. When she swung away from him, her sword was pulled back, but when she swung back, she lightly tapped him on his torso, making him fall backwards.

The daughter of Apollo was now standing on the branch, showing herself to view. Hazel neatly dodged the knife that had been thrown at her and chuckled at the girl's stupidity. The girl had just thrown her one weapon. Hazel notched and aimed her arrow right at the girl's knee, disabling her of walking any further. With a loud cry, the girl dropped down. Using that as an advantage, Kenneth slammed the hilt of his sword at the girl's temple, knocking her out.

As the minutes progressed, the fighting continued until only three remained standing.

"That wasn't that bad," Thalia commented, swinging off her tree.

"Yeah, we've taken down three already," Kenneth added. "With so many more groups to go."

"But we do have the option of hiding out until the five days are up," Hazel supplied after him.

Thalia craned her neck. "But members in the First Legion never hide."

Hazel shrugged, but grinned at Thalia's answer. "Just saying."

"We better get going," Kenneth nodded over at their unconscious opponents, to which their detectors were beeping noisily and blaring red. "The wolves are going to come at this moment."

Eying closer at their surroundings, the three slipped into the shadows of the tall trees.

* * *

><p>"Where the hell is everybody?" Kenneth demanded, his voice going an octave higher than it should be.<p>

"Way to attract attention and get us all killed," Thalia muttered out loud, poking her stick at the small fire that the group had managed to come up with.

Besides fighting the group of nine near the beginning of the first assessment, the rest of the day had gone further on the uneventful side. Rather than shying away from a fight, the three members did the exact opposite and looked for a fight—at least it was something to occupy their time as opposed to dragging their feet in the snow and walking around in random circles around the cold forest.

At many times during their dawdling, the woods had become particularly quiet. Sometimes, it became almost too quiet, to the hint of suspicion, as though they were being followed. They walked around on the ground, and when that did nothing to them, they tried jumping from tree branch to tree branch, trying to find another group from the upper view.

It was as though their opponents were hiding.

"Alright, you guys," Hazel came back from the shadows, holding up a dead rabbit. "I managed to catch this one before it escaped back into its hole."

Thalia stared at it. "That looks delicious."

Hazel glared at the bland tone the other girl used. "You want to eat or not?"

Before Hazel crossed the way to hand it to Thalia so the other girl could cook it, an arrow zoomed across them, striking a tree opposite of them.

"Damn it," Hazel muttered, drawing her arrow out in a flash, pointing it at the darkness.

Thalia had drawn her sword out as well. "Well, looks like you got what you wanted, Ken."

Another arrow zoomed out from the blackness, and Thalia's eye caught it. She moved her sword with a flick of her wrist, diverting the arrow that had originally been aimed at her. Then, the opposing group crawled out. There were only three members, indicating that this was a First Legion group. Thalia recognized Bobby as one of the three boys grouped together.

Her sword met with Bobby's sword in a clash of metal. "Hey, no hard feelings, right?" he asked, in the midst of their fight.

Thalia wanted to laugh. "Of course not," she responded, and she meant it. Bobby was a nice guy. She wouldn't hold a grudge against him if he bested her in the fight or knocked her out.

Thalia swerved to the right, avoiding an arrow that had flown from the archer on the other team. She stepped back, disengaging her sword from the contact of that of Bobby's. She pulled a feint to the right, successfully tricking the boy into going that way. In the second of his mistake, she brought her sword down, the pointed tip piercing a long and jagged line down Bobby's arm. Bobby winced, but he didn't back down. He arched his sword with precision, swinging in length of her neck, but Thalia had ducked, elbowing him keenly at his midsection. As he stumbled, Thalia beat her sword against his, disarming him. She then brought her hand to the side of his neck, hitting him vividly with the side of her palm. It must have been a sensitive point for him, since he had fallen to the ground after that strike.

On the other side, Hazel had a more strenuous time taking down her opponent. She recognized the opponent as one of her half-brothers, and he was also an archer of Apollo, just like herself. For the first length, they chased each other around, firing arrows at each other. Hazel had been the first to figure out that this was going to be a fruitless fight, so she stopped chasing the other. It was just a waste of her arrows.

Instead, she grabbed another arrow, sliding the pointed tip into the small huddle of fire that was built around the melted snow of the ground. In a second, the tip of the arrow was fully flamed. Hazel notched it swiftly, aiming not at her opponent, but at the ground between his feet. Once the inflamed arrow met the snowy ground, it burst into sparks, causing the other archer to jump back. In the archer's surprise, Hazel seized the moment by aiming another arrow, this time making it hit his inner forearm, the effect being that his body had fallen back.

"Good job," Thalia said, giving Hazel a high five.

"Kenneth, are you done?" Hazel called over her shoulder, before turning around. The victory smile she had been wearing was suddenly wiped off her face as she froze.

Thalia noticed the change in the Apollo girl. "What happened?" Her gaze followed Hazel's, seeing Kenneth's opponent taken down a while ago.

"Shit," was the only thing Thalia could say.

She noticed that Kenneth's face was paler than the snow he was standing on.

And the arrow that was deeply plunged into his ankle.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Oooh, cliffhanger. Sort of.

Please review!


	7. Primoris Assessment: Partis II

**Chapter Seven: Primoris Assessment- Partis II**_  
>First Assessment- Part II<em>

A deep red color was painted along the white canvas, trickling endlessly from the dripping thin lines that flowed in entirely different directions before colliding together in a puddle near the bottom. Brush strokes that were entirely too soft seemed to smear the paint, wiping across the whiteness, leaving wet bubbles trailing behind. The paint was a symbolic picture of what they represented and what they stood for.

But this was no canvas, and there was no paint.

Instead, there was the icy ground that was frozen with snow, and the smearing red paint was warm blood. The red liquid was flowing out on its own accord, and didn't need a brush to paint the rest of the picture. If the shedding of another blood was a symbolic picture of what they represented, Thalia wasn't sure if she wanted to be a part of it anymore.

Kenneth's injury took a drastic turn in assurance that they would survive. Usually, arrow wounds near the legs were almost always mendable, if an infirmary was very close by. But the arrow that the other Apollo archer had shot at had managed to puncture through Kenneth's skin, its pointed tip embedded right on his ankle bone. Removal of the arrow would leave him hemorrhaging to death, but leaving it in would cause a perilous infection that could lead to amputation.

The decisions were tearing them in two contrary directions that would still affect them either way.

It was doubtlessly cold, but Kenneth's forehead was dotted with beads of sweat. His breathing came out in harsh gasps, and because of the tough legion training acted upon them, the two girls had no difficulty in supporting his weight. The three walked away from Bobby and the other two unconscious boys before the wolves came.

"Here…" Kenneth gasped and winced, as they neared a different and much colder part of the forest.

Gently, the two girls let him down so that he was leaning against a tree, but the arrow in his wounded leg had scraped at some twigs, causing it to slightly twist in Kenneth's bone, which resulted in the boy giving out a muffled cry.

"Is there anything we can do for him?" Thalia asked Hazel, worry etched into her tone.

Hazel, looking just as strained, sighed. "Bringing any medicine is banned from the assessments."

"It's okay, guys," Kenneth tried moving his leg, but only ended up flinching.

"It's not okay," Hazel threw back. "There's an arrow sticking out of your ankle. Since when is that ever _okay_?"

For obtaining such an injury, Kenneth was doing quite well to contain his pain. Because of his being in First Legion, he must have suffered wounds far worse than this. But this one would be particularly dangerous to himself if he didn't have the medicine right away and wasn't immediately taken to an infirmary.

"Take it out," Kenneth commanded stoically.

Thalia flashed him a warning look. "You'll bleed all over the place."

"It's better than risking an infection. After all, I'd like to keep both of my legs." She couldn't believe that in his state, he had the nerve to joke around.

"You could die from hemorrhaging," she argued.

"He can handle it," Hazel cut in tenderly. She put her hand on Kenneth's shoulder, "You can hold it in for a couple more days, can't you?"

Kenneth nodded. He turned to Thalia, his gaze softening. "Don't worry about me, Thals. We're all trained to handle this kind of stuff."

"Make sure you find the right spot to take it out. We don't want to damage any more of his skin," Hazel said, positioning herself next to Kenneth. Her arm went around his back to his other shoulder, while her other arm went around his front torso, to block him should he move forward. "Take it out quickly."

Kenneth was the one in pain, but Thalia felt even more nervous than he did. She needed to do this right. Like Hazel said, she didn't want to rip out any more of his torn skin when taking out the arrow. She watched Hazel get herself settled, and the son of Mercury leaning onto the tree, farther away from his wounded ankle. Thalia waited patiently for Kenneth's consent of the removal— she wasn't in all that hurry to take it out.

A moment of utter silenced passed between the group before Kenneth nodded.

Rubbing her fingers against her palm, she carefully winded her digits around the shaft of the arrow. The slim touch sent a tiny pressure, stressing more to Kenneth's building anguish. Examining the injury, she noticed that the arrow had made a clean cut to his skin, so it wouldn't be all that hard to take it out. Blue eyes gazed upon the arrow, she quickly gripped the shaft tightly and yanked it out in one pull.

Unable to keep the pain budded inside, Kenneth let out a distressed yell. He immediately shot forward when the arrow was pulled out from him, and Hazel's arm tightened around his front in an attempt to keep him back. By now, his blood was oozing out in measurable lengths, and none of the members knew how to stop it. The smell of heavy copper pierced the air.

Hazel used a piece of cloth she had ripped out from her own tunic and wiped it along Kenneth's brow. "Its okay, Kenneth. You're alright. You're okay."

Thalia remembered the last time she had been wounded, which dated back to her battle with Lupa. She remembered bleeding to death, but she didn't remember any pain. Point is, she had—by some unknown form—used the winds to heal her bleeding injuries. If only she remembered how to activate her powers. There must be some sort of switch to turn her powers of the 'healing winds' or whatever else they were called, right?

Letting her eyes flutter close, she poised a hand over his bleeding ankle. Thalia searched her mind, thinking what could possibly activate it. Once she thought about it, she felt the winds beginning to shift, just like it had that day with her battle with Lupa. The winds struck against the snow, creating small blizzards around the First Legion members. The snow-coated leaves cackled wildly, flying off from the branches.

"What are you doing?" Hazel asked, holding a slumped Kenneth against her. His eyes were barely open, but he was still awake. The white snow was flying all over the place.

"Trying to heal him," she muttered in response, opening her eyes. To see that he was still bleeding panicked her even more, so a spark lighted her eyes, making them glow.

Biting her lip, she focused hard on his wound. Her increase in power didn't necessarily heal Kenneth's wound, but made the winds around them stronger. So much was the force that branches flew from the tree, ripped from prior attachment to the aged bark. Snow burst and exploded everywhere; leaves rustled and flew haphazardly, both forms of nature spiraling towards the sky upon the accumulating momentum of the bitter air.

Thalia cursed to herself, slamming her fist to ground. Why wasn't it working?

There was a loud crack, as if the noise had been put next to a microphone, and the earth beneath them suddenly vibrated and shook in its quell.

At Hazel and Kenneth's wide-eyed expressions, she said, "I was trying to heal him using those winds. Remember my fight against Lupa and how the winds changed—"

"Thalia," Hazel breathed in disbelief. She pointed a hand over the girl's head, _"Look." _

She turned around, surprised at what she had found. A wide and tall tree, one that looked as though it had lived in the forest more many centuries, had toppled over, the wood cracking from its roots. The tree lay flat against the ground instead of standing up like most trees were supposed to do. It looked like it had exploded and shot right out of the ground that tied its roots in.

"Hmm," Thalia replied thoughtfully, "Has that tree always been like that? I never noticed."

"No, Thalia," Hazel shook her head rapidly. "You—You blew it from the ground!"

"What?" The idea seemed impossible. "No, I didn't."

Kenneth, now fully awake, despite the pain, backed up Hazel. "Yeah, you did. When you slammed your fist to the ground, the tree just cracked and fell over."

Thalia still didn't believe it. "No…"

Letting out the breath she had been holding, Hazel stared between Thalia and the toppled tree. Didn't Thalia realize how strong she was?

"Figures," Kenneth murmured with a small, tired smile. "You're the daughter of Jupiter. Of course you can do things like that."

Thalia's shoulders slumped in disappointment. Yeah, it was cool that she had blown up a tree, but she was hoping at least some of her power could cease the blood from flowing out of Kenneth's foot.

"Dad," she whispered so quietly, her teammates didn't hear her. "Why didn't it work?"

_The healing only works for you, Thalia. You can only heal yourself._

"That's not fair."

"Huh?" Kenneth asked.

Instead of responding directly, Thalia cut off the bottom hem of her tunic into a long strip. "This would have to do for now," she stated, wrapping the cloth around his bleeding wound. Kenneth flinched, but didn't say anything. After tying the cloth securely around his foot, she touched his ankle soothingly. "You said you could handle it, didn't you?"

Kenneth's pale face cracked into a grin.

* * *

><p>"<em>Come here, Jason!" <em>

_He let out a happy giggle as a six year old girl with spiky black hair picked him up by his underarms, and placed a soft kiss to his chubby cheek. "Hey, little guy? How are you today?" she cooed. _

"_Lia!" _

_The girl sighed, a mock-exasperation look on her face. "It's Thalia, but that was close enough." _

_"Lia!"  
><em>

_She smiled at him, touching her nose to his while nuzzling it. Shifting him so that he rested on her hip, she walked across the room and opened the fridge. Thalia frowned, noticing there was only milk and eggs. Jason leaned in, his head resting against the crook of her neck and shoulder, also looking into the fridge, but not understanding the conception to it. _

"_Jeez," Thalia muttered. "She can buy all the jewelry and clothing in the world, but she can't feed her own children." _

"_Thalia…" a voice echoed through the hallway. A blonde woman stumbled out, holding a empty wine bottle by the tips of her shaking fingers. "Welcome home, baby…" _

"_Sorry, I'm late," Thalia told her mother in a patronizing tone. "You forgot to pick me up." _

"_That's right…you go to school…" _

"_Yes, like every other kid my age," Thalia gritted through her teeth. _

_The bottle slipped past the blonde woman's fingers, shattering once it hit the ground. Thalia tensed at the noise, bringing Jason closer to herself, and even Jason knew at his tender age that the atmosphere wasn't right. _

"_Now," the blonde woman stumbled over to the fridge. "Don't…don't speak to me like that, Thalia, darling…" _

"_Don't call me that." _

"_Oh, you remind me so much of your father," the blonde woman sighed, wistful in her drunken state. "Good looks and all…but my baby, Jason here," she plucked Jason from Thalia's arms, "looks…exactly like me." _

_Jason fidgeted, trying to get away from this strange, blonde woman. Her breath reeked of alcohol. _

_Thalia reached for him. "Give him back. You're upsetting him." _

"_What?" the blonde woman gave a deep chuckle. "Why would I upset him? I'm his mother." _

"_No, you're not," Thalia argued angrily. "I've been the one feeding him, changing his diapers, and taking care of him! I'm practically his mother!" _

"_I told you…not to…talk to me like that," the blonde woman slurred, gripping Jason a bit too hard. Jason, feeling the pressure, whimpered and burst into tears. _

"_Stop it! You're hurting him!" _

_The blonde woman stumbled back, gasping. "I would never…never hurt him! He's my child!"_

"_Yeah, some mother you are!" _

_His tears turned into loud, gut- wrenching cries when the blonde woman swung her arm back and slapped Thalia in the face with full force, sending the six year old girl flying back. _

Jason woke up, his gaze widened, his breathing shallow in the darkest parts of the forest.

He turned to his left, noticing Reyna's sleeping form a few distances away. He was glad he didn't wake her up. What he had just seen had been more of a long ago memory than a dream. He was two then, and he hadn't realized that Thalia and their mother hadn't gotten along very well. The good thing that had come from Jason being snatched away from his family was that he didn't have to live with his wreck of a mother.

He was lucky, considering he escaped her. Thalia, on the other hand, didn't. He wondered if Thalia suffered even more when Jason disappeared, or if that was just the worst of it.

"Jason? Are you alright?"

His face snapped to the other side, looking into the Gwendolyn's dark brown eyes. Huh, he had forgotten that she had been keeping the first watch.

"Yeah…" Jason ran a hand through his short, blond hair. "Yeah, I'm okay. Here, I'll take over. Get some rest."

"Are you sure?" Gwendolyn's eyes softened in a way that no other camper had seen before. "You were screaming in your sleep."

"I was?"

Gwendolyn nodded. "You mentioned Thalia's name a couple times."

"Oh."

"I could still keep watch. I think you need more sleep, Jason."

"No," he shook his head in disagreement. "I've had enough sleep."

"But—"

Jason silenced the rest of her statement with an icy glare. Noticing Gwendolyn's wary pause, he sighed. "Honestly, I don't want to go back to sleep. Let me take over, Gwen," he added more quietly.

Gwendolyn looked like she wanted to argue more, but then she nodded in dejection. Sighing to herself, she moved away from the fire and settled herself upon the coldest patch of snow, her eyes gazing up at the dark sky above. Turning back to take a peek, she found Jason poking the fire with a twig, a troubled expression settled on his face.

* * *

><p>Cheaters. Liars. Mere filth.<p>

These were the words that rang through Thalia's head as she perched herself on the highest branch of a tree, her eyes narrowed coldly down at the group of five legion members below her at the ground. She recognized them all from the Fifth Legion and her hatred towards the group further progressed as the group laughed ignorantly, as though they were at a picnic rather than testing their survival.

For the penetrating last hour, Thalia had watched with a hardened gaze as the group picked out food to eat. Apparently, one of the boys had snuck in food without Lupa's knowing, and they were all feasting and oblivious to the dangers of being hunted. Not only had they brought _food_, but they had brought in all sorts of _medicine_ as well. For instance, they had a certain medical herb that was formed into a salve—something that would definitely help Kenneth's foot.

She was still frustrated with herself, considering that she couldn't heal Kenneth's injured ankle. Naturally, she took it out on herself, causing her to flow into a dark mood throughout the entire day.

She didn't think them smart for sneaking these necessities in. Which was why Thalia wasn't going to feel the least of all guilty when she would steal all of their things.

To her advantage, all their heads were turned to the side, foolishly admiring the different types of trees. Whilst their heads were turned away, she hung upside down again. She put her hands to the sides of the boy closest to her, and with a quick twist, she snapped his head to the side. It wasn't hard enough to kill him, but it was enough to make him unconscious. As he slumped back against the tree, Thalia pulled herself up again, obscuring herself from view. The beep of his detector alerted the others and once they saw their unconscious member, they all panicked.

Neither of the four remaining members had time to take out their weapons before Thalia jumped down from the tree, slicing her sword at the front of the girl that stood in her way, and punching the guy next to her. She then gripped that guy's hair, pulling it until he cried, and kicked him back until he stumbled over his unconscious friend. Her fierce gaze turned to the two girls that were left. Their faces were determined, but it was no doubt that they quivered against the skinny consul of the First Legion.

Easily disarming the blonde girl closest to her, Thalia gripped the back of the girl's shirt and pulled her close, holding her as a sort of hostage against the other girl, whose hair was a deep shade of orange and red.

"Hi, girls," Thalia smiled sweetly, the gesture completely dangerous as it was nice. "Where'd you get all this food?"

"We…" when Blondie didn't answer, Thalia shook her roughly, causing the girl to whimper. "We stole it! We all hid it under our armor!"

Redhead whimpered. "You aren't going to tell Lupa, are you?"

"Please don't tell her!" Blondie paled visibly.

"We won't do it again!" Redhead pleaded, dropping her sword. She actually dropped her weapon, disarming herself.

No wonder these girls were in the Fifth Legion.

Thalia bashed her hilt against Blondie, the girl instantly falling back against Thalia's slender arms. The redheaded girl gasped when the other blonde girl collapsed in Thalia's embrace. The blue-eyed girl never once removed her gaze from the remaining redheaded girl as she lowered the other girl in her arms down to the ground.

"You should run," Thalia quietly advised.

With a shiver, the redhead girl sprinted away from the site. But once she ran only a few meters, Thalia's eyes flashed, and the redhead girl flew in the air, screaming her lungs out. Thalia willed the winds to spin the redheaded girl in the air, scaring her, until she abruptly dropped the girl back on the ground, where she had fainted on her accord.

Thalia went around the unconscious bodies, picking up the food that was littered around. There was a decent size roll of bread—enough to feed seven people—and there were a couple of bananas. The group of five had eaten everything else the previous day, but what she held was enough to feed her own group. Along with the newly acquired food, Thalia went over and stole the herbal salve, and the wrap of bandages that was next to it.

She looked at the things she had stolen and over to the unconscious bodies.

Yep. No guilt whatsoever.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **This is the _second_ time today that I've updated! I must really love you guys. And I'm getting more depressed since my spring break is almost over, but reviews will cheer me up!


	8. Eventus

**Chapter Eight: Eventus**_  
>Consequences<em>

"Where did you get this?" Kenneth asked, a calm sigh escaping his lips as Thalia rubbed the herbal salve over his injured ankle. He felt immediately better, giving an indication of how well the medicine worked.

"Stole it," was a quiet answer.

Hazel paused in the midst of fixing her arrows. "Stole it from who?"

"From a couple of Fifth Legion members."

Like Thalia had felt before, anger quickly bubbled in Hazel, rising along the surface, and threatening to strike out. Everyone should know by now that they were not allowed to bring _anything_ but their one weapon into the assessment. These stupid kids were lucky that they weren't in the First Legion because they would have suffered consequences even worse than death from the other First Legion members. This kind of stunt brought complete and utter shame to their legion.

"We have to report them," Hazel said through her clenched teeth.

"But if they hadn't snuck stuff in, we wouldn't have this," Thalia lifted up the salve and waved it at the other girl.

Hazel crossed her arms tightly. "It doesn't matter. Part of legion training is following the rules. If they're going to cheat like that, then what's the point of training in the first place?"

Thalia disagreed. "I already gave them what they deserved, Haze. By now, they're probably back at camp in the infirmary," she grinned, trying not to be too cocky.

"You said they were in the Fifth Legion, right?"

"_Hazel." _

"You'll know we'll get in trouble if we don't tell," Hazel countered back. "I don't know how, but Lupa always finds out about these things. There's no point in keeping it to ourselves. She'll find out about the food they snuck in, and she'll find out about how we kept it from her."

"You mean how _I_ kept it from her," Thalia corrected. At Hazel's blank look, the blue eyed girl continued, "After all, I was the one that found out about them in the first place. If there's going to be any consequences for not telling Lupa, I'm the only one taking them. You guys weren't with me, so you're off the hook."

"No, we won't—" Hazel tried to argue, but Thalia cut her off.

Thalia shook her head at her. "The both of you aren't involved, so there's no reason why you two should be punished. I only told you what happened, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Do you always have it?" Kenneth suddenly wondered, and the girls had almost forgotten that the boy was there too.

"Have what?" Thalia asked, not understanding his question.

Kenneth cocked his head to the side. "A hero complex," he murmured after a while. "I mean, you find these guys and kick their asses for stealing and all, but you won't tell on them. And then you tell us and that technically puts us involved, but you're willing to take all the blame. I think you have a hero complex, Thals."

"An annoying one, too," Hazel added with a small glare.

_Crack!_

All three of them instantly tensed, with Thalia and Hazel jumping to their feet and drawing out their weapons. Kenneth couldn't do much, but he reached for his sword anyway. As Hazel easily pulled out her bow and arrow, the other girl found it tiring to take out her sword yet again, after clipping it to her hair. She might as well just hold it the entire time than putting it in her hair.

"Doesn't sound like other demigods," Hazel said.

"No," Thalia narrowed her eyes. "It sounds like—"

_Crack!_

"Ken, get up that tree," Thalia quickly demanded, turning around to lift one of Kenneth's arms. "Come on."

"Why?"

"No time for questions," Haze dropped her bow and went to Kenneth's other side to help him up.

The two girls lifted him up gently as Kenneth hopped on his one good leg. Usually, Kenneth would never back out on a fight like this, but a certain injury kept him from doing so. Kenneth wasn't as weak as he was with his lower half, so he used his upper arms to lift his entire self until he was perched on a large branch above. It wasn't that high, but it was high enough so that he could be out of range from the ground.

The moment the girls re-situated themselves, something crawled out from the trees. Thalia wanted to throw up after seeing the creature. She had never seen anything so bizarre.

It was a half-woman. Thalia was sure there was a woman part in that hideous creature she was staring at. She also had large wings, indicating that it might be a half-dragon also. Her hair wasn't a couple of strands of actual hair, but real, slithering snakes. The first thing that came to mind about the greenish snake-hair was _Medusa_, even though Thalia had no idea what a Medusa was. But the most ghastly thing about the creature was the various mutated wild animals sprouting from her human torso, their animal faces frozen in terror at being attached to the creature's chest.

The dragon portion of her was twelve feet long, has black scales, large claws, a barbed tail, and its legs were also made of moving and revolving viper snakes. Her skin was green and bubbly, as though she was a chemical experiment that had gone so completely wrong. In each of her wielded hands was a scimitar, which seemed to be poisoned at the tip.

"Ugh, she smells horrible," Thalia whispered, nose scrunching in disgust.

"What is she? Is she even a _she_?" Hazel hissed back.

"Kampê," Thalia responded back without a second though, as though she knew the answer all along.

At the sound of her name being spoken, Kampê started talking in some language that sounded like she was rumbling. Her black eyes were held in tiny slits, like a snake's eyes, and the expression on the creature's face wasn't very lovely.

"We can't understand you," Thalia told the creature in all her impulsiveness, and Hazel squeezed her arm tightly, telling the other girl to shut up.

Kampê blinked. _"Do you understand me now?"_

Funny, Thalia did understand the creature. _"Yes."_

Hazel clutched her bow even tighter, angled at the monster, but she was shocked that Thalia was actually having a conversation with the thing. Unbeknownst to both girls, Thalia was speaking in the language of the Ancient Greeks.

"_Why are you here?"_ Thalia found herself asking in that familiar native tongue.

A forked tongue slithered between her sharp teeth, the snakes billowing around her legs as Kampê took a step forward, her large movements vibrating through the earth. _"She promised me food."_

"_Who?" _

"_Your leader." _

At first, Thalia thought she heard wrong. _"You mean Lupa?"_

A snake's hiss. _"Correct."_

"_So you're hungry, is that it?"_ Thalia's eyebrow lifted in thought. _"Well, we have a couple bananas left if you want it."_

"_How cheeky you are,"_ Kampê laughed, and the sound was disconcerting. _"I only eat humans. Demigods are my favorite." _

Hazel squeezed Thalia again, taking her from the conversation. "What's she saying?"

Thalia refused to move her gaze from the ugly she-monster. "She's hungry. Lupa sent her here and promised her food."

"So give her the bananas," Hazel replied.

"She only eats humans."

"_I'm very hungry, daughter of Zeus,"_ Kampê smirked in a malicious way. _"And yes, I know who you are. This has been…pleasant. But I must eat now." _

With a loud hiss, Kampê launched from her hinds legs. In midway of her run, both girls jumped away from their former spot. Kampê was too large, and she even had a smaller wit, so the creature went slamming into the bark of the tree.

Hazel aimed an arrow right at the monster, her shaft landing right on one of the animals on Kampê's torso. Her arrow had hit a gorilla's bellowing face, but the moment her arrow hit it, the gorilla's face disappeared and was replaced with a deformed cat's face. Then it hit her, her arrows were from the Apollo god himself, but they weren't made of Imperial Gold, like other blades. Her arrows wouldn't affect the monster.

"Thalia!" Hazel yelled, dodging a furious swipe of Kampê's spiny arm. "What's your sword made of?"

"Uh…" Thalia trailed off, deflecting the pointed jabs that barbed tail was giving her. Her sword pointed up, blocking the sharp tail that was just an inch away from her nose. "Celestial Bronze."

Hazel had never heard of a thing such as Celestial Bronze. She only shook her head to herself. "Kenneth! Give me your sword!" Kenneth's sword was made of Imperial Gold.

"Can you even wield it?" came a shouted response.

_Not even,_ was her true thought. "Yeah, just give it!"

Kenneth dropped his sword, and Hazel grabbed just enough time to block an incoming attack from one of Kampê's poisoned scimitar. She had almost used Kenneth's sword the wrong way also. Using a sword was a complete and foreign concept to her, as if her hands weren't cooperating to holding a sword. Her fingers were fumbling, trying to grasp it from jumping from her hands. Every blow Kampê threw had the sword slipping further and further away from her grip.

"Hold it on the upper hilt!" Kenneth yelled down.

Hazel blew a breath of frustration. "I'm trying!"

"Have you even used a sword before?" Thalia asked as she dealt with Kampê's other scimitar. The monster was a multi-tasker, attacking both girls at once.

"No!"

"Then why the freaking _hell _do you have a sword?"

"Because my arrows won't work!"

_Fucking shit, _Hazel thought when the sword was abruptly disarmed from her, and the poison-tipped scimitar edged at her neck. The weapon had her edging against the tree. In that moment, Hazel looked up, noticing that Kenneth was prepared to throw frosted acorns or something at Kampê, but Hazel quickly shook her head at him.

Just when the scimitar was this close to puncturing her neck, Thalia jumped on Kampê's back, bashing her head with the bottom of her sword. Kampê shrieked, her scimitar removed from Hazel's neck as she focused on the other girl. Her two scimitar thrust in the air, trying to stab Thalia with any of those tips, but the blue-eyed girl avoided all of them.

That is, until Kampê's barbed tail went around from the top and coiled its way around Thalia's waist in the quick and smooth movement of a snake. With a hard thrust, the tail slammed Thalia onto the ground hardly, right under and between Kampê's legs, causing Thalia's sword to skidder a few feet. Kampê snarled, black onyx eyes bulging as she bent down, snapping to try to rip the girl's face off.

Thalia's been in this position before, only, the creature that had been snapping at her face beforehand had been a white she-wolf. Thalia darkened at the thought of Lupa, but those thoughts disappeared as her hands stretched out in front of her, gripping the sides of Kampê's slimy mouth, holding her back from permanently biting her face off. Kampê's teeth was roughly scraping against Thalia's fingers, small bleeding laceration marks forming on her digits. It was a slight pain, but she was more traumatized with the fact that Kampê's yellow-colored saliva was dripping by the gallons down her arms.

Absolutely disgusting.

"Anytime, Hazel!" Thalia yelled, somehow feeling no pain as Kampê sank her teeth deeply into Thalia's palm.

Hazel ran, picking up Thalia's sword along the way. Jumping, she latched onto Kampê's back, her arms hanging from the monster's neck. Before Kampê could even throw her off, Hazel trust the sword onto the creature's back.

Kampê howled, not before turning into nothing but dust.

As she fell, Hazel shifted so that she wouldn't land on top of Thalia. The daughter of Jupiter looked like a mess—all covered in yellow saliva, and deep, bleeding holes in each of her palms.

"You guys okay?" Kenneth asked, looking down, since both girls refused to get up from their stretched out forms on the ground. "Awesome fighting by the way."

Hazel let a tired smile creep onto her face. "Thanks, Ken."

Wordlessly, Thalia thrust her hands into the air. It was a quiet moment before Hazel heard the whisper of the winds in her ear, and she watched as the bloody holes in her palms disappeared and re-fix itself.

"See?" Thalia looked at her new, bloodless and scarless palms. "This was what I was trying to do to Kenneth's foot."

"Give it up already," Hazel rolled her eyes, rolling over to face Thalia. "It only works on you."

She may have slain Kampê, but it was Thalia who risked her life in distracting the monster. Hazel watched as Thalia wrinkled her nose, judging the way she looked as she observed her saliva-coated body. Thalia rubbed her hands together, but it only made her hands stick together. She understood Thalia's face of utter disgust.

"Thank gods this is the last day. I need a shower," Thalia muttered. When she noticed the other girl staring at her, she asked, "What?"

"Nothing."

Hazel didn't want to admit it, but she was looking at a true hero in the making. No, not even in the making. Now that she thought about it, Thalia wasn't made to become a hero. She had been a hero all along. Kenneth had been right about the whole hero complex thing.

An amnesiac hero—but a hero nonetheless.

* * *

><p>It was the second time the bells had rung, and it was the signal of the end of assessment. The winners were all allowed one day of rest, before they would go back to their regular schedule. Everyone else had to resume training, no matter how injured they were.<p>

Out of their special threesome, only Hazel looked unfrazzled by events. It was still cold, making it three times worse. Kenneth was the one with the wounded foot, but he didn't need help anymore. He could walk now, but with a tiny limp. Thalia on the other hand was still dripping with saliva all over her body, since there was no river to be found in the forest. She couldn't use snow to wipe it off, since the white substance would just stick to her body and the yellow slime.

For some reason, this assessment had been the worse of all other assessments for Kenneth and Hazel. Since Thalia was new, she equally thought it as bad. They blandly wondered if any other group had dealt with a horrendous monster as they had.

It seemed that the only group that still survived was Jason's. His group had stepped out at the same time Thalia and her members did. No other group crawled out. When the groups came together, Gwendolyn walked ahead, since she refused to face Thalia just yet.

"Oh gods," Reyna gasped at the sight of Thalia. "What is that?"

Thalia frowned. "Saliva."

"She and Hazel battled some disgusting monster," Kenneth added, limping.

"A monster?" Jason was shocked. "We didn't get a monster."

"What?" Thalia demanded incredulously. "How is that fair?"

Camp was only a few distances away, and it seemed like everyone was waiting for the two groups. The kids that were injured were all bandaged up and out of the infirmary. Lupa stood in the middle, eyes cold, smiling.

Thalia glared at those silver eyes that resembled the cold snow itself. Kampê was sent because of her. The question they all wanted to know is why the hell Lupa sent the monster in the first place.

"Congratulations to our two groups for being the only groups to survive," Lupa's acknowledgment sounded more like an taunt, making the winners a bit uneasy. Her praise was followed by applause. "You are granted one day of rest."

"Gee, thanks," Thalia said sarcastically, earning an elbow jab from Hazel.

Lupa looked merely amused at Thalia's outburst. "Hmm, the consul of the First Legion looks troubled."

_Damn right, I do. _"Why did you send Kampê after us?"

"It seemed like a reasonable punishment," Lupa shrugged, as if no big deal. "You were planning on saving another legion, weren't you? By keeping their secret?"

If Thalia paled, no one could see it because her skin was already naturally pale. "How do you know that?"

Lupa's answer was when her cold gaze shifted to the side. Thalia's eyes followed Lupa's into the crowd, until both pairs trained solely on one person. Thalia found herself staring at the same redheaded from the other day. There was a scared look on her face, and Thalia immediately knew that the redhead had told Lupa everything. The sneaking of the food and medicine, and Thalia's claim of keeping the whole thing a secret.

But Thalia was given a hint that the redheaded girl had been _forced_ to tell.

Hazel had been right. Lupa always had a way of finding things out.

"Alright," Lupa's voice was harsh. It suited her. "Line up."

The same five members Thalia had stolen things from in the Fifth Legion, including the redheaded girl, lined up in front of Thalia, their backs turned to her. Another boy Thalia didn't recognize lined up at the end. Their backs were turned, but they looked scared to death.

"In this camp, warriors must face the consequences of their wrongdoings," Lupa smirked down at her.

"And I'm supposed to do something about it?" Thalia retorted frankly.

Lupa chuckled, letting a cold finger trace Thalia's jaw. "That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble, consul." With that said, Lupa handed Thalia a leather whip. Holding Thalia's chin, she turned the girl's head to the campers lined in front of her in a straight row. "Whip them."

The snow falling was the only noise.

Thalia blinked as she stared at her grip on the whip. "W-What?"

Lupa's deceitful smile only widened. "Whip them."

When Thalia refused to move, Lupa held her hand, indicating the first five legion members. "You do realize they must be punished for breaking the rules. Of course, I didn't send a monster after them because I knew they couldn't handle it as well as you and your group members could. These five must be whipped for sneaking in banned necessities." She gestured to the unfamiliar boy at the end. "And he must be whipped for avoiding the assessment."

There were small whispers amongst the crowd, all regarding the boy at the end. "He missed the assessment?" Thalia asked.

"He thought he could avoid it by hiding in his closet the entire time," Lupa tsked. "Now whip them. I want fifty lashes for all of them."

"Oh, come on. Don't you think that's too much?" Thalia stalled time, trying to save the Fifth Legion members.

"You are the First Legion's consul. Set an example for your fellow campers. If you don't whip them right now, I'll have someone else whip them, and then I'll whip you myself," Lupa threatened.

"Fine, go ahead—"

"She'll do it," Jason cut in, putting a hand on Thalia's shoulder. "Just do it, Thalia," he whispered to her.

Thalia opened her mouth to argue, but Jason sent her a pleading look. It was almost a look of desperation. In Jason's mind, he didn't want to see her get whipped by Lupa. He wouldn't stand the image of it. It was better if the six were whipped, rather than his own sister.

The daughter of Jupiter turned, clutching the grip tightly with her fingers. Everything inside of her screamed at her not to do this, telling her this act would defy every of her values and morals. She wondered if her former self would spit at her in disgust at what Thalia was about to do. She felt like spitting at herself.

Ignoring the fact that Lupa was standing right beside her, Thalia hardened her gaze and turned to the first person that stood in line. It was that same blonde girl from that day. With a sharp snap of her wrist, she hadn't realized that the whip had actually landed upon the girl's back. She supposed she could whip her in away that was less painful. She did the whip movements faster and quicker, and more lightly, so that both the shaking blonde girl and Thalia could get this over with, but Lupa did her favorite gesture on Thalia and squeezed the girl's shoulder tightly.

"Whip her _slow_," her voice was right there in Thalia's ear. "And whip her _hard_."

Thalia felt like a toy puppet being played with, and Lupa was the master, controlling her every move by using invisible strings that were attached to her arms and legs. Lupa's morbid encouragement had Thalia whipping the quaking girl until the blonde had felt every single one of them. By the forty-fifth whip, the girl had fallen, unable to handle it anymore after receiving a bloody back.

Lupa sneered crudely at Thalia, as if to say, _"Next."_


	9. Grand Canyon Ad

**Chapter Nine: Grand Canyon Ad**_  
>To the Grand Canyon<em>

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get them off her mind.

Everywhere she turned, her mind flashed back towards where she had whipped all the six members of the Fifth Legion until they unhindered skin had been nothing but bloody slabs of meat. Since Kenneth's foot injury, that incident had been the second time she had seen crimson blood coat the pure, white snow. It would be dark red in some places, as a cause of fresh blood being piled out, and some would fade into a pinkish tint due to the snow's ice. But it was all the same in the end—blood was blood, and she had played a role in salvaging.

It's been a week since that day, since the end of the first assessment, but it's still fresh on her mind. Thalia tried not to think of it much—like she would really want to—but the flashes popped up and unexpected moments. The worst time she would think of the bloody backs was when she was in the middle of eating. It was bad to the point where she couldn't remember the faces of the six Fifth Legion members. Instead, she would recognize them by their backs. It was like the incident was reacting itself all over again.

She was in the room that had connected her room with Jason's. While attempting to read a random book she had found on the shelf, she saw their backs again. Before, Thalia would flinch at the memory. Now, considering she was used to it, she didn't react so visibly anymore, but it still strained her. She knew the memory would be there when she would go to sleep, and it would be there when she woke up in the morning.

"Jason?"

The blond boy looked up from his book. "Yeah?"

"Why did you stop me?" Thalia asked, and she knew Jason knew exactly what she was saying. She should have brought this subject up sooner, and it was a wonder why she had kept her mouth shut. "You spoke up for me when Lupa threatened to whip me."

"Honestly?" When Thalia nodded, Jason continued, "It wasn't worth it. Lupa was going to whip the other six people anyway, and you'd just be an addition. And you're my sis—_friend_ and I don't want to see you getting hurt."

Jason hoped Thalia missed his blunder of words. That had been entirely too close.

"You'll learn that it's better to listen to Lupa than to argue against her," he added, trying to cover his mistake.

Thalia snorted. "I have a strong feeling that I'll be arguing against her _a lot_."

Jason grinned. "Try not to."

She fiddled with her thumbs as she tried concentrating on her book. Thalia frowned before picking up the book and chucking it across the room, causing Jason's deep laughter to ring in the air at her disability to concentrate on a literary work.

And then Thalia asked a question that had caught him completely off guard.

"Do you have any siblings?"

Jason unconsciously placed the book directly in front of his face, hiding his troubled visage. Taking a small peek, he noticed that Thalia's gaze wasn't on him, but up at the ceiling. She had asked that question absentmindedly.

At first, he thought that Thalia should have been six years older than him. And then he remembered that there was actually only a four years difference between them. It was the age thing that threw him off. He was so certain that Thalia was his sister, but how could she be the same age as him? It was impossible. He did the math and whatnot, and by now, Thalia was supposed to be somewhere around twenty years old.

Maybe the gods intervened in her aging status, but that didn't matter. She was his sister, and that was that. Jason refused to believe anything otherwise. Her electric blue eyes told it all.

But should he finally tell her?

"I've got an older sister," he finally decided, making up his mind.

Thalia perked up at the mentioning. "Does she look like you?"

Jason shook his head. "Not really. The only thing we share in common is the eyes. She takes after our dad, and I think I take after our mom."

"You 'think'?"

"I don't remember much about my mom. I was kidnapped by wolves when I was two and brought here to Lupa. But it doesn't matter anyway," Jason muttered bitterly. "The only thing I remember about my mother is that she drank a lot, and the only person who really took care of me was my sister," he paused, determinedly looking away. "She's this caring, funny, beautiful girl, and whenever she was away at school, I'd always be sad. When she got home, I'd never leave her side."

"You sound like you really love her," Thalia remarked with a smile.

"I do," he reassured firmly, his eyes lighting up. "I miss her."

For some reason, an agitated feeling erupted in Thalia's stomach. She always got these feeling whenever she would receive a flashback of her old life, but no memory came. She had started feeling this way after Jason's last words. Something about his proclamation made her remember something…but what was it?

"Is she a demigod?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. She's not here at camp, so I don't know. Lupa had told me that ever since I had been taken by the wolves, my sister had left my mom," he lied. "She's been missing every since."

_Of course, Lupa would know everything,_ Thalia thought ironically, with a slight roll of her eyes.

"I'm sure you'll find her," she said consolingly. She lied back against the couch, propping her feet at the other end. "And when you do, I'd like to meet her."

Jason bit his lip from sighing. _But you've already met her. _

Thalia didn't notice the look Jason had sent her, too deep in her thoughts to notice anything. She stared up at the ceiling once more, folding her arms behind her head. She wondered if she had any siblings that were wondering were she was at this moment. She wondered if she had any parents that were worried sick to death of her disappearance, or maybe they were relieved. She thought of the friends that would miss her, if they existed.

Before her blue eyes closed in preparation for a small nap, she noticed she had forgotten to ask the name of Jason's sister.

* * *

><p>Lupa observed the threesome in front of her with impassive eyes, her chin rested against her folded hands. The three had been chosen for a special assignment, seeing that it was to retrieve a half-blood from Nevada. It was very rare to find a half-blood amongst the streets, due to them having been unclaimed, and she jumped at the chance to take this child under her care.<p>

If the child could overcome Lupa's test, that is.

Gwendolyn was always ever so tense and straight around Lupa. The older woman knew this girl was not to be trifled with, but the only time she ever looked up at someone else was directly at Lupa. She never ever defied the rules. The daughter of Pluto was as dark as her father's namesake, and Lupa imagined delving into that mind of hers.

And then there was Jason, ever the saving grace of the camp, having defeated Krios and toppled his black throne. At two years old, he had shown promising and strong potential. He was one of the smart ones, who obeyed her, but at the same time, applied some of his knowledge to the facts. He proved to himself, and to Lupa, that he was not another brainless guinea pig that was only useful at following orders.

Then there was the witty and highly amusing Thalia. Even though she was wiped of her memories, this one still remembered her strengths as a warrior. Thalia was agile, clever, persevering—all the characteristics of a true warrior, if not, more. Anyone would be a fool to doubt her abilities. The only thing that opposed Lupa was Thalia's pride. Lupa reckoned that if there was to be a rebellion in her camp, Thalia would be the one leading it.

Judging by their structures now, Lupa could tell they fit their traits. Gwendolyn stood erectly, looking straight ahead and not at Lupa. Jason also stood like a soldier, although his eyes would waver down to peek at Lupa's every once in a while before looking away. Thalia too, stood straight, although her arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowed audaciously at Lupa's silvery ones, and she had no intention of looking away from Lupa either.

"You three have been chosen for an assignment," she stated the obvious.

"Yippee," Thalia's dry comment came almost instantly. "Should we all celebrate and bring out the party favors?"

Lupa could only grin. This girl was _truly_ amusing.

"There's a half-blooded girl in what is called the Wilderness School, which is supposedly a boarding school to host the naughtiest kids in the state," Lupa dismissed Thalia's comment. "The girl's name is Piper McLean and luckily, her school is going on a field trip to the Grand Canyon, marking this as the perfect time to take her and bring her here."

"That's a bit inconvenient, don't you think?" Of course this was Thalia speaking. "Just dropping in out of nowhere and kidnapping her—we can't just take her from her life."

"We aren't _kidnapping_ her," Gwendolyn pointed out, her brown eyes narrowed. "We're bringing her to where she needs to be. Monsters would come after demigods if they aren't claimed, and if they aren't brought to the camp as quickly as possible, Thalia."

"Not kidnapping her?" Thalia shot back. "If you haven't noticed, kidnapping is taking someone illegally by force. Let's see, taking this Piper girl from her school by _force _when she doesn't even know who we are? Yeah, I would say that's kidnapping, _Gwendolyn_."

Jason bit his lip from grinning, while Gwendolyn fumed and said, "I know what it means."

The two girls were left glaring at each other, but Lupa decided to ignore them. She tilted her head, directing her twilight gaze towards the boy in the middle. "I'm sure you'll be surprised at the end of this assignment, Jason."

"What do you mean, milady?" Jason asked, plenty curious.

"Why do you call her that?" Thalia muttered in a low, repulsive manner.

"It won't be much of a surprise if I tell you now, would it?" Lupa smiled serenely. "Now, off you go."

* * *

><p>Thalia had no idea that the Roman Camp was just a few miles away from San Francisco. After Lupa had given them their assignment, the three decided to leave at one a.m. in the morning, considering that the Grand Canyon was in Arizona, and it would take at least ten hours to get there—how ever they were going to get there.<p>

They were standing in one of the empty streets of the bright city, since everyone else was asleep at the time.

"You support kidnapping _and_ auto-theft?" Thalia asked shrewdly. "Nice."

Gwendolyn gritted her teeth. "We don't have any other choice! How else are we supposed to get to Arizona?"

"This is someone's car!"

"They left the keys in the car!" Gwendolyn exclaimed, gesturing to the keys that was obviously sitting in the engine. "Who is idiotic enough to leave their keys in the car?"

"Do you even know how to drive?" And this was where Gwendolyn had been bested by their little word-play, and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Thalia took note of it and relished in her tiny victory.

Jason, ever the savior, cut in. "Neither of us knows how to drive. We've been in camp all our lives. Can you drive?" he asked Thalia.

"Why are you asking her?" Gwendolyn snapped. "She's the amnesiac."

Gwendolyn was proven wrong ten minutes later, when all of them were strapped onto the white Chevy truck, with Thalia sitting in the driver's seat, easing the car out of the streets with certain expertise.

Her driving skills had come back to her as quickly as her fighting skills had. She knew how to use the gas pedal and the brake from a distant and vague memory. Driving was a very sedated and relaxing ordeal. And the seemingly permanent scowl draped on Gwendolyn's face made the whole experience even more satisfying. She just hoped the police would catch her doing anything wrong, since she didn't have a license with her.

It was nice being away from camp. They, especially Thalia, had felt completely free and a bit liberating of Lupa's clutches. They entertained themselves in their own ways, in contrast to staring a dirt road all day. Gwendolyn still refused to talk, with her arms crossed tightly in the backseat, so the two offspring of Jupiter chatted and joked with each other in front to the point where they had felt guilty of leaving the other girl out of the conversation.

The two in the front had tried adding Gwendolyn in on their talk, but the daughter of Pluto would respond with short and brisk responses.

Around ten-thirty, they stopped by McDonald's, by Jason's request. "Hey, what do you want?" Thalia turned around, after ordering two large orders of French fries for her, and an Angus Bacon & Cheese for Jason.

"I'll pass," Gwendolyn said in distaste at the mention of fast food. All she could think of the calories she would gain, and it would put a whole waste to her legion training. She glared at Thalia's skinny body. At first, she had thought the girl had been an anorexic. She suspected the other girl had starved herself, or maybe poked a finger down her throat after she would eat. And then she saw the way Thalia really ate.

Jason furrowed his eyebrows together. "Come on, Gwen. You have to eat something."

Gwendolyn blushed at Jason's concern, prompting Thalia to think, _She likes him…_

"If you're worried about getting fat—don't," Jason ordered. "You're perfect the way you are," he remarked to her, causing her to blush ten times even more so.

Thalia fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"You, on the other hand, need to eat." Jason turned back to Thalia, eyeing her form. "You look underfed."

"Jason, you tell me that every time we're about to eat."

"It's the truth. Order a hamburger, don't just order fries."

"Okay," Thalia resisted pointing out that she had ordered _two_ orders of fries. And a large soda drink too. She looked back at Gwendolyn, who was still resetting from Jason's sudden remark "What do you want?"

"Just get me a salad." Gwendolyn figured she didn't have the luxury of having high metabolism like the son and daughter of Jupiter before her.

Thalia shrugged, turning back to the intercom, where the employee had been waiting very patiently all this time, probably listening to the crazy argument belonging to three neurotic teenagers. "I'll also order a Big Mac with extra cheese."

"Did you not hear what I said?" Gwendolyn hissed.

"_And what drink would you like with that?" _

Gwendolyn punched the headrest behind Thalia's head. "I don't want a Big Mac, and I don't want soda!"

"I think I'll go with a Coke," Thalia decided, ignoring the other girl's outbursts.

And just like that, they were delighting themselves with fast food.

"So much better than camp food," Jason mused as he bit at his burger.

Thalia nodded, agreeing as she shoved a whole bunch of fries in her mouth. Even though it was a cheap meal, it was honestly the best thing she had ever eaten since waking up without her memories in an unknown territory. Her eyes scanned the rear view mirror to see Gwendolyn warily staring at her large Big Mac.

The sad part was that Gwendolyn looked as though she actually wanted to eat it.

"It's simple, really," Thalia found herself saying to the mirror. "All you have to do is lift it up and open your mouth—"

"Shut up," Gwendolyn shot an angry look back at her.

"You really should eat it, Gwen," Jason added. "You haven't eaten anything before.

That alone had gotten Gwendolyn to pick up the burger.

Thalia almost laughed at the whole thing. "You know what? Maybe you should talk to her from now on, Jason. Apparently she only listens to you." There was another hard punch to the back of her headrest.

The road from then out was bumpy, indicating that they were entering a desert-like landscape. Jason's window had been down the entire time, and once they crossed the border to Arizona, a thick, hot air entered the truck, causing the window to immediately be rolled up, and blasting the air conditioner on high. But even that wasn't enough to escape the sudden heat the developed them.

In front of the momentous canyon was a big, red stucco complex just sitting in the middle of nowhere. It was shaped similar to that of a museum. Parked in front of the building was a singular, yellow school bus with the words: WILDERNESS SCHOOL on it. By that, they had found their target.

The three stepped outside the hot weather, but none of them had broken a sweat, thanks to legion training.

"It's supposed to be hot, isn't it?" Thalia asked.

Gwendolyn snorted. "Can you not feel the heat?"

"No," Thalia shook her head. She pointed up at the sky. "Look."

The sky was clear and sunny, except for this one patch of sky. This was the complete opposite of what the weather in Arizona was supposed to be. This part of the usually endless blue was filled with darkened gray tunnel clouds that were a step close to black. Under this particular shade of dark, the winds were out of control, and the sky was crackling with light that could only be lightning.

Two clouds lowered onto the ground, oblivious that the three Romans were watching them. The clouds swirled into smoke and formed into two ghostly men whose transparent skin was evident. They had smoky bat-like wings, their feet not real feet but mediocre swirls of small tornadoes, and slightly demonic faces with bright eyes that flickered with eerie light. They moved around, creating all sorts of winds to go haywire in different directions before slipping into the stucco building.

"_Venti_," Jason instantly grappled for his weapon.

Thalia blinked. "That sounds like a cup size from Starbucks."

"It isn't a coincidence that they're here," Jason flipped his coin, and it turned into his large lance. He gripped tightly, turning to the other two girls, using a face that was only saved for fights. "They're here for Piper."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Ugh, I hate school. But, on a more positive account, Piper's coming! I'm actually excited. This was a very mellow and laid-back chapter, but the next will have some action.


	10. Macula In Intentio

**A/N: **I'd like to thank all those who take the time and review this story. It means a lot, and I even appreciate those who read but don't review—it's okay ;)

I'd also like to apologize for not addressing this sooner. This should have been warned way earlier, like in the first chapter, but I didn't want to ruin my storyline, so I'm saying this now. This will eventually turn out to be a **_PERLIA_** fic. There, I bolded it, italicized it, and underlined it to indicate how serious I am, and how I will not change this pairing. I'm sick of all the bashing I get for putting this two together. If you don't like this couple, then I guess you shouldn't be reading this story. If you want to go read a Percabeth fic, then go on. No one's stopping you, because I assure you, there are _hundreds_ of Percabeth stories you can choose from.

I've read some comments on how some people don't necessarily like Perlia, but have agreed to grow used to it because they actually like reading the story as a whole, and for that, I thank all of you. All the original Percabeth shippers who still continue to read this story because they enjoy it—you guys are awesome.

Sorry about all of this. I ran across a comment and I couldn't ignore it. But aside from all of that, you guys are the BEST supporters, reviewers, and readers out there! I was literally jumping in joy when the reviews hit the 40 mark. That's how much your comments mean to me.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Ten: Macula In Intentio<strong>_  
>Stain Upon Intention<em>

Piper was having a horribly, rotten day.

She thought that getting paired up with Dylan, arrogant jock extraordinaire, would top all of everything else, but even that didn't put the icing on the cake. Beforehand, the usual happened in her everyday measly life. The other delinquent girls make fun of her— to this day she still doesn't know what she's done to them— and Coach Hedge had been giving her a long lecture for god-knows-what. Usually, on a field trip like this, she'd be jumping all over the place in excitement.

Lately, she doesn't feel like doing anything. Not since two weeks ago. Not since_ his_ disappearance.

Her day kind of pummeled the moment Piper had flown backwards when she had been observing some monument in the museum for the stupid worksheet she was supposed to be working on with her so-called 'partner'. She had slammed against the double doors, and luckily, she hadn't been knocked out. At first, she had thought that Dylan just picked up and threw her like that, because there was no absolute way he could have pushed her with so much force like that with just a flick of his wrist.

The tiny hurricanes of wind were so hard, the kids around her were screaming. They ran out of the building as the wind picked up their pencils and notebooks and threw them everywhere. Everyone left until the only two people in the building were Piper and Dylan. In the throbbing of her head, Piper hoped Leo was okay.

But once she had looked up again, Dylan wasn't the same boy who had been wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans, and a pair of boots that made him look as though he had stepped from an old western movie. His huge body had been deformed into swirling mists of wind, with large wings, and eyes as black as storm clouds. Some electricity was sparking from his translucent body.

"Demigod," the Dylan-monster-thing hissed, and a gush of wind blew in Piper's face.

Piper was almost too shocked to even say anything. Her question hung in her throat but she coughed it out. "What…_what _the hell are you?"

"A ventus, darling," Dylan drawled, a bored hint to it. "Tsk, tsk, you really do need to know your monsters."

Dylan had raised his hand, arching it up, and Piper didn't know what he was doing when a spark of electricity traveled up the length of his arm and balled up in the middle of his palm. Clutching it, he threw it at her. Piper only had time to roll over before the bright ball of light nearly electrocuted her entire body.

She crept up, only to dodge yet another spark of electricity, and she was sure the end strands of her hair had been lightly singed since she could sense the burning smell.

Dylan's laugh was loud, but it sounded miles away, as though the winds were in the midst of carry it away. He was amused at her attempt to stay alive. But all Piper could think of was how earlier, this monster had been _hitting_ on her! Her skin was crawling just by thinking of the thought.

Then, right when she knew she would be the brunt of a rather large electricity shock, the double doors burst open. Two girls around her age ran in. She was struck at how beautiful they were, and how much similar they were. They both had black hair, and pale skin, and were around the same height. Although, one girl had bright brilliant blue eyes, while the other girl had imposing brown. Also, the brown-eyed girl's hair fell down in waves as opposed to the blue-eyed girl's pin straight hair. The blue-eyed girl was skinny, but just because the brown-eyed girl wasn't that skinny, didn't mean that she wasn't athletic-looking with lithe muscles.

Piper felt totally inapt compared to these girls.

But it was the boy who took Piper's breath away. He had a kind and gentle face, and not to mention, very handsome. He too, was athletic looking like the brown-eyed girl, and his blond hair was cut in a militaristic style. Piper noticed that he shared the same eye color with the blue-eyed skinny girl, and there was that small scar on his upper lip. He looked exactly as she remembered him.

It was as though he hadn't been missing for two weeks now.

"Jason," she breathed. It was _her_ Jason.

One thing the three teenagers had in common was that they all looked a bit windblown. They looked like they had just traveled through a tornado. And the fact that they were all armed with swords. Something told Piper these kids weren't exactly normal, but then again, Jason had a sword too.

Dylan sparked again, and shots of white light sprang out. On shot narrowly missed Piper by an inch. Although, when the electricity hit Jason, the light was just absorbed into his skin. Another electricity ball was heading towards the brown-eyed girl's way, but the other girl just stepped in front of her, and the light was absorbed into her skin naturally, just as it did with Jason.

"I could have deflected that!" the brown-eyed girl yelled in an accusatory tone.

"A simple 'thank you' would have sufficed," the blue-eyed girl muttered.

"How are you still alive? That was enough to kill twenty men!" Dylan felt outraged, Piper could see the red in his white, windy face, but then he gave a harsh laugh. "Ah. The offspring of Jupiter. I should have known."

Piper blinked a couple times. Did he just say…offspring of _Jupiter?_

"No matter. Always have a back up plan," Dylan winked at the teenagers playfully before his whole form turned into a twisting hurricane.

The tiny hurricane whisked towards Piper in a blink of an eye, carry her with the spinning hurls of wind out the door. She screamed in defiance, trying to wiggle her way out, but the winds that howled were even louder, blocking out her yells.

She was carried right out into the edge of the Grand Canyon, at the edge of the rocky cliffs. The wind pushed her off, her body flung into the air. Piper did the only sensibly thing she could do and her hand reached out and grasped out onto one of the rails of the empty abyss. Swallowing thickly, he allowed her eyes to look down. She supposed her body would no doubt crack into millions of pieces when she reached the bottom.

Looking up, she was amazed at how fast those two girls and Jason had been there after her. They were all distracting Dylan in all their cunningness and deception. Piper could have watched them all day if she hadn't been hanging off a cliff.

Right at the same time, the three teens struck at Dylan. The blue-eyed girl thrust her sword at his neck, the brown-eyed girl slammed her sword at his hip, and Jason had taken a swipe right out the outline of where the heart should be. Piper widened her eyes when Dylan exploded into gold powder, the substance falling all over their forms.

That's when Piper fell.

She screamed, of course.

The rock side of the canyons past her so quickly, and it was almost a blur. She felt as though her skin was peeling off her body against the currents of the wind and the pressure of her falling force. Piper was falling back-front, so she wouldn't know exactly when she would hit the ground.

A dark figure was falling in front of her. The figure had its arms tucked in and his head face first. Eyeing the determined face, Piper widened her eyes to see that Jason had jumped after her. He began moving his arms, in a motion to tell her to spread her own arms. Piper watched and she mimicked him, her arms spread out around her.

Jason dived forward, quickly gaining on Piper. She stopped screaming the moment he tackled her waist, his arms going around her and holding her to his hard body. The girl clung onto him tightly, arms suffocating his neck, and she would have wrapped her legs around his waist if her legs hadn't been so frozen in contact. Hugging Jason like this—it made Piper forget that he had been missing for nearly two weeks.

The wind that had been whistling loud in her ears, suddenly died down. The noise of the wind was lessening and lessening until it stopped altogether. Piper didn't mean to, but she gasped out loud. They weren't falling, she knew that, but they were actually floating in mid-air.

"J-Jason," she stammered.

His eyes trained on hers in response. "You know my name?" he asked, his eyes narrowing at her face, electric blue eyes glinting with heady suspicion.

"Of course I do," Piper reassured him, confusion starting to etch in her voice. "We—I—" She hated the way she was stumbling over her words. She thought she sounded completely stupid with him, which she shouldn't."You're my boyfriend."

Jason couldn't help but stare at her as though she was insane. Here this girl was, having never met each other before, claiming that she was his girlfriend. He couldn't deny that she was really pretty. She attained good looks on her own, considering no trace of makeup was on her face. Her brown hair was choppy and uneven with thin strands of braids down the sides. Her eyes were a beautiful mix of brown, blue, and green.

"I don't know you at all," Jason replied, floating up to the top of the cliff. When his feet touched the ground once more, he set her down quickly as though her touch was poisoning him. "I'm not your boyfriend."

The brown-eyed girl was suddenly standing next to Jason. "We have to go, Jason. The mortals are starting to come back, and the police are with them."

"You don't remember, Jason?" Piper asked, and the fact that she had been attacked by some wind monster didn't daunt her in the least. "You kissed me when we were out on the school patio that one time, when we were watching the stars. After that, we got together. You've been missing these past two weeks. Don't you remember any of it?"

The brown-eyed girl glared at Jason, looking ready to kill. "You have a girlfriend?"

"Hey, you never told us that," the blue-eyed girl teased with a grin.

"It's because I don't have a girlfriend!" Jason yelled back at them in frustration. His irritated face turned to the strange girl, but once he noticed her sad expression he softened. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about. I've never met you in my entire life."

Piper's heart dropped. What the hell did they do to him? She remembered that they were as happy as could be as any other normal couple in a boarding school for delinquents, and then he suddenly disappears all the sudden. Then he comes back and he has no recollection of her whatsoever.

"Do you remember anything at all? Leo? Wilderness School?" Piper felt the need to ask.

"You need to stop," the brown-eyed girl's icy tone shook Piper, but the girl didn't flinch. "Jason doesn't know you at all, so stop pestering him with your questions. He's been with us since he was two years old and he hasn't left our place, so there's no way he's been attending your school."

Despite Gwendolyn's harsh reply, Jason had to admit that she said whatever Jason had needed to say. "Maybe you're mistaking me with the wrong person," he added, much more gently.

"No, I know you're Jason," Piper said firmly, blinking back angry tears. "You have that tiny scar on your upper lip."

"And what does that prove?" came the brown-eyed girl's blunt question.

"I can prove to you that I know him," Piper snapped at the brown-eyed girl. She ignored the way the brown eyes flashed with an angry storm. "He has that scar from trying to eat a stapler when he was little."

Jason and Gwendolyn were shocked that this stranger girl knew the history of Jason's little scar. Thalia, however, stumbled back a few steps, as though someone had punched her roughly at her midsection. Usually, whenever she received flashbacks, it was never this painful. Sometimes she would get these feelings that would tell her that there was something that she should be remembering. The feeling would only agitate her until she remembered what it was.

Sirens wailed in the distance, signaling that the police were definitely here.

"We need to go," the brown-eyed girl ordered, yet that order was directly mostly at Piper. "Now."

"Why?" Piper asked immediately. Except for Jason, she barely knew these people. "Where are we going?"

The brown-eyed girl clenched her teeth. She pulled roughly at Piper's wrist. "Let's go."

Piper's protest died in her throat as she let the brown-eyed girl drag her away from the rocky cliffs. None of them actually cared that she was stumbling over her feet half the time they were dragging her. They finally stop and let her rest when they entered a white Chevy truck in the parking lot.

She was glad that Jason slid to sit next to her in the back of the seat, despite his strange lack of memory of his own girlfriend. Piper reckoned that if the brown-eyed girl sat next to her, it wouldn't have been much of a pleasant ride. Right now it wasn't really a pleasant ride since she was getting in a car with a couple of strangers. She thought she knew Jason—come on, he was her boyfriend— but now, she wasn't so sure.

"Step on it," Gwendolyn barked, irritated with the fact that Jason offered to sit with that girl.

"Yeah, hold on…" Thalia trailed off, her eyes ahead of her.

Walking out the front of the museum, looking very windblown themselves, were three strangers. There was this curly blonde girl with serious grey eyes. Next to her was a boy with dark curly hair. The tall boy trailing after them was what caught her gaze. He was the same cute boy in her memory, the one with the seawater eyes.

Seaweed Brain.

There was a shove on her shoulder. Thalia abruptly turned to an angry Gwendolyn. "Hello?" the other girl snapped.

"Sorry," Thalia murmured. Her eyes remained on that boy, as her hand unwilling started car.

* * *

><p>"Well, that was rather fun," Annabeth smiled, wiping her hands on her jeans, as she walked out to front.<p>

"Fun? _Fun?_" the curly-haired boy demanded as he followed the blonde girl. "In case you haven't noticed, we almost got killed! By some windy monster demon thing! Oh, and to top it off, you two are complete and total _strangers_!"

This would have been a normal day for Leo if the wind monster hadn't ruined his day. He would have explored the Grand Canyon if the two strange teenagers his age hadn't come barging in on time. It was as though they knew these monsters would be here at this place. What was even stranger was that they fought with medieval weapons like bronze swords and knifes that glinted threateningly. He knew he was dreaming the entire thing the moment the wind monster evaporated to golden dust.

Leo had seen Piper in the midst of it all, but she was pre-occupied with her own set of strange people. She was surrounded by other teenagers who were armed with medieval weapons too. There were two black-haired girls and a blond guy. But before he could yell out her name, they disappeared.

"C'mon," the boy with the seawater eyes, who's introduced himself as Percy, said. "We gotta go."

"Go?" Leo felt his eyes bulge out. "Go where?"

"To Camp Half-Blood," the blonde girl, Annabeth responded. "You'll be safe there."

"What?"

Annabeth's eyebrow arched at him. "Unless you'd rather stay here and go back to your boarding school."

No thank you. "Okay, fine."

But he didn't want to leave Piper all alone. Not with Jason having gone missing a few weeks before.

Percy couldn't help but feel this thought nagging at his mind. The last time he saw, there had been three storm spirits at the museum—one that was acting as a student, and the other two arriving just after. He and Annabeth had come on time with Blackjack to save Leo from one of the storm spirits. He wondered what happened to the other two.

His eyes roamed around, landing on the parking lot of the museum. For some reason, he looked over all the cars, looking for someone. His eyes landed on a white Chevy truck. A jolt sparked in him at what he saw.

Thalia was sitting in the front seat. He could see her beautiful face past the shaded mirror, and those electric blue eyes could shine through any dark exterior. Percy bolted for that white truck, ignored Annabeth's calls of his name. He dodged all the panicking people that surrounded the museum, only thinking them as nuisances because they were delaying him longer from getting to her.

Percy should have known he would feel dejected when he arrived. The white truck was gone.

He ran a shaky hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh. Annabeth and Leo caught up with him, and when Annabeth punched his shoulder, he didn't feel it. Thank the gods for the curse he still beared.

"Why'd you run off for?" Annabeth questioned him, crossing her arms, her grey eyes lighted with anger and worry.

"I thought I saw Thalia."

When Annabeth instantly softened, Percy averted his hard gaze to the ground. "I'm not hallucinating this time. I did actually see her. She was in a white truck."

"Okay, Percy," she murmured, petting his arm, not wanting to upset him further.

She knew Percy was far from crazy. But he's been hallucinating a lot nowadays. He would run off the woods late at night just because he claimed he saw Thalia, or he would ditch dinner just because he saw Thalia making her way to the archery fields. To him, Thalia was everywhere, but in reality, she was still nowhere to be found.

* * *

><p>It all made sense to Piper now. All these years, she had the strange ability to talk people into getting what she wanted. She just thought she was very persuasive. A kleptomaniac her father always called her. She didn't know that this type of convincing people was an actual power.<p>

Piper was a charmspeaker. Judging by that power, they immediately assumed that she was a daughter of Venus. Piper had no idea who Venus was, until Thalia—the blue-eyed girl— pointed out that her Greek counterpart was Aphrodite. Now Aphrodite, Piper definitely knew. She was that goddess of love and beauty from those Greek myths she studied in school.

But they had been myths. She had no idea that they were real and that there were such things as demigods.

The other three teenagers were all demigods. Gwendolyn was a child of Hades or Pluto, and Jason and Thalia shared a father, who happened to be Zeus or Jupiter. Piper quickly learned that they were heading to a roman camp for demigods, to train ones such as herself.

Thalia noticed Piper's expression through the rear view mirror and gave a sympathetic smile. "It's a lot to take in. I was in your position a month ago, but you'll quickly get used to it."

"I don't know if I can," Piper leaned her head against the window. "I didn't think this stuff existed."

Gwendolyn looked slightly offended. "Well, they do."

Piper was just about ready to smack her.

Another thing she noticed was the dark tattoo printed on their forearms. They spelled the letters SPQR. The Jason she knew never had such a tattoo, which was why she was so flabbergasted upon seeing this Jason have one. They seriously looked as though they hurt.

"So this camp," Piper spoke up, willing herself not to think about Jason. "All you do is train there?"

"That's only if you pass Lupa's judgment," Gwendolyn replied with a small sneer at Piper through the mirror.

"Lupa?"

"She's the head of our camp," Jason explained kindly. "She's an immortal she-wolf that can be both wolf and take place in human form. Every time a new camper arrives, they are put to her judgment. You have to fight her in order to be able to have the privilege to train at the camp. You aren't allowed any help. If you don't succeed, she'll either eat you or feed you to the wolves."

Piper paled. "And…and have some of the campers beat her?"

"There have been very few exceptions who have beaten her in a short amount of time." To this, Jason shared a knowing smile with Thalia. "But all you have to do is last for at least one hour. If you're still living when the time is up, you're in."

_You're joking._

"I don't think I can," Piper argued, panic in her voice.

She did not want to die. Fighting with Lupa or getting eaten by her—there was no win situation in that. She was never good at fighting in the first place. It explains her weak fighting skills, considering she's a child of Venus.

"You're a demigod," Jason reassured with a small smile that had Piper's heart fluttering. He may not have known her, but he was still doing certain things to her. "All demigods have the special instinct to fight. You'll do fine."

At his smile, Piper was reminded of her boyfriend, who smiled at her exactly like that.

Gods, why can't he remember her?

Gwendolyn was absolutely seething at the picture of Jason and Piper smiling shyly at each other.

"What's wrong with you?" Thalia asked with a lifted eyebrow, glancing over at the daughter of Pluto.

"Just focus on driving," the other girl managed through her gritted teeth.

Thalia shrugged it off and focused back on the road. Besides her own judgment, Thalia had never witnessed one of Lupa's judgments before as an audience member. She would like to see how it was from that point of view.

She figured out her major flaw. Beyond her pride and all that, she couldn't resist seeing someone in trouble. She would be mostly likely to drop all her things and save that one person, even if it meant breaking the rules. Thalia wondered what she would do if she saw Lupa hurting Piper the same way she had hurt Thalia. She's settled with the fact that she was an ultimate rule-breaker by now. She was a rebel for her own insane cause. She was sure she would get a special whipping from Lupa herself if Thalia tried anything.

If Lupa was on the verge of killing Piper, Thalia was going to jump in and stop her.


	11. Pup Nova

**Chapter Eleven: Pup Nova**_  
>New Pup<em>

The scene is all too familiar to Thalia, with the only difference being that this time—she was part of the audience that could only watch the pitiless acts instead of participating as one of the performers that was forced to entertain.

She chose to sit in the very front row, where she would be able to see everything. Already she could feel an invisible barrier that barricaded between where she sat and where the arena field was. Warranted curiosity piqued her and she suddenly wondered how she had looked like through the eyes of the many watchers that had sat on the colosseum rows of seats as she battled it out with Lupa upon her first arrival.

_You chose the best seat in the house, Snow. _

Thalia managed to crack a grin. "Long time no see, Kota."

The russet-colored wolf wagged his long tail, swishing it back and forth before sitting his bottom down on the space on the right of Thalia. _If we're lucky, some blood might just taint us._

"That's not at all disturbing," Thalia replied dryly with a roll of her eyes.

_It's happened before,_ Dakota shot back, sounding very grim.

"But the max is one hour, isn't it?" Thalia asked. "Jason said that Lupa would go no further than the first hour."

_Depends on her mood. But yeah, technically, rules are rules.  
><em>

Restlessness was gnawing at her, making Thalia unable to stay still. There was quiet chatter amongst the crowd, but even that was unsettling to her. The two key players were still missing from the arena. She knew that Piper was behind those barred gates, just as Thalia had waited in before, so the question lies on where Lupa was. She hoped that Piper would last the first hour.

Thalia had felt bad for Piper. The younger girl's luck had suffered when the Jason she knew had disappeared for a length of time, and she claimed that she knew this Jason, even though he had never met her in return. Not only that, she had to find out that she was a demigod and the fact that she was battling an immortal she-wolf for her life. Piper had lost her boyfriend and her sanity all in one strike.

Some figure sat down beside Thalia's left side, automatically causing the daughter of Jupiter to turn her head to investigate the new noise. The gesture in seeing what she saw was only an arched eyebrow to see a certain daughter of Pluto sit right next to her. Thalia might have gained Gwendolyn's respect by besting her in sword fights, and their little road trip to the Grand Canyon might have brought them just a _tad_ bit closer, but they still weren't on friendly terms.

Gwendolyn noticed Thalia's stare and said bluntly, "I'm not sitting here because I want to."

Thalia looked at her shrewdly. "Gee, don't point out the obvious."

"I'm sitting here to get a better view," Gwendolyn acted as though she hadn't heard Thalia's response. She held up her chin with an aristocratic air that almost made Thalia want to grab her and push her into the arena just to get Gwendolyn away from her. "I hope Lupa shreds her piece by piece."

"Hmm," Thalia said in mock thought, a slim finger tapping against her chin. "If I didn't know any better, it sounds like you hate Piper even more than you hate me. Oh, gasp."

Gwendolyn blinked at her owlishly. "That's true," she murmured after a while, earning an impish noise from the blue-eyed girl. "Although I direct some of my hatred towards you, I figured out that most of my hatred is towards the girl."

"Her name is Piper."

"Like I care."

Thalia rested her chin against the hand that was balanced on her knee. "Why do you hate her all the sudden?" she asked, turning towards the brown-eyed girl. "She didn't do anything to you."

Gwendolyn shrugged. "She's a brat."

"She's not," Thalia laughed at the off answer. "Last time I remember, _you_ were the one acting like a brat."

"I did not—"

"Yeah, you did," Thalia cut in before Gwendolyn could finish her statement. "You refused to speak to anyone, and you were pouting the entire time because Jason offered to sit with Piper instead of sitting with you. And whenever one of wanted to talk, you just shut us off. You were a huge pain in the ass, Gwendolyn."

Gwendolyn looked about ready to maul Thalia right then and there.

But Thalia was unbothered by the dark look. In all accounts, she was used to it now. "Are you jealous that Jason's paying more attention to Piper than he is to you?" she taunted lightly.

"_No!"_ came a frustrated and all too quick answer to Gwendolyn's liking. Her hands were fisted tightly at her side, and she was horrified at the fact that her cheeks were beginning to heat. This was happening to her a lot lately.

Thalia rolled her eyes again. "Whatever."

And just like that, the subject was dropped.

_Well, she's pleasant,_ Dakota remarked. He sniffed in Gwendolyn's direction, causing Thalia to smile and run her fingers across his naturally shaded fur. She felt somewhat comforted when his head dropped to her lap.

White flashed in the arena below her, and due to the hush of the crowd, Thalia knew that Lupa had arrived. The head of the camp stood at the center of the arena, smiling serenely, despite the circumstances. Her silver eyes passed the crowd, stilling most of the campers. Her eyes shined with insidious mischief when they landed on Thalia. It was one of those long glances that dared Thalia to do something reckless, just so that Lupa would have an excuse to use her whip again.

_You might just get your wish,_ Thalia thought to herself, staring back at the white lady. She had a feeling she would get a special punishment from Lupa by the end of this.

"_Let us welcome our new challenger!"_ Lupa's voice echoed all around the amphitheater. For someone known for having such a calm and collected voice, it was weird hearing it ten times louder. _"Open the gates!"_

Before the barred gates lifted, Lupa jumped, shifting in blinding light into that of a wolf. Off the side of the arena was the simple and blunt sword that every new camper was supposed to use in Lupa's judgment.

The creaking of old metal clinked in the colosseum, and Piper timidly and hesitatingly came out to plain view. Even though she was probably feeling scared to death, Piper was wearing a brave face. She couldn't help but widened her eyes at the sight of a large, white wolf sneering back at her, sharp teeth bared in the light. From what Jason and Thalia had been telling her, Piper had been expecting a wolf, and not some wild, dangerous beast.

The gates slammed down behind her.

No turning back.

The white wolf, Lupa, Piper presumed, pounced on her before the young girl could react. With one huge hit to the side, Piper was sent flying back until her back collided with the arena walls. Her vision was etched with blurry spots already, and she was feeling dizzy within the first two minutes of the battle. Judging by the quiet gasps of the crowd, Piper must have taken a hard hit.

Lupa stared at her with glinting twilight eyes, pupils glowing as she assessed her next attack on Piper. The girl stood up shakily, wincing as she quickly stretched her strained back. Was she supposed to fight a wolf with her bare hands?

Movement along the rows of the colosseum caught Piper's kaleidoscope eyes. She squinted to see Thalia pointing her hand down along the other side of the arena. She followed the hand's indication to find a sword lying there alone on the ground, almost forgotten.

But as Piper moved for the sword, Lupa moved as well. Piper had been halfway until Lupa shot out of nowhere and struck against the girl's side, causing Piper to twirl like a useless rag doll in the air until the pummeled to the floor in a crumbling manner that ached her entire body. Her teeth bit at her lip until she tasted her own blood, blocking the screams that threatened to escape from her throat.

Taking no mercy on the newcomer of the camp, Lupa pushed roughly at Piper's other side. The hard connecting between Lupa's snout and Piper's hip had Piper shooting a couple feet in the air, all the same falling to the ground. There was a small crack somewhere between the impeding force, but Piper was sure it didn't come from Lupa. The surging pain at her left side was enough proof to tell her that somewhere in her body, something was broken.

_Tired already? _Piper heard the she-wolf ask her. _I thought you were better than this. I'm beginning to regret bringing you to this camp. You are proving to me that you are a weak one. _

"I—I'm…"

Lupa growled, edging closer. _What?_

"I'm not…weak," Piper responded more strongly, rolling over to her good side.

_Then show me._

Just when Lupa's white form launched, Piper rolled just in time before having her face rearranged by Lupa's sharp and large claws. With much effort, Piper jumped to her feet, holding her sides. She ran as Lupa redirected herself, her fingers bending low to grasp the hilt of the sword. The weapon felt very heavy in her hand, being that she had never used a sword in her life before.

"She's dead," Gwendolyn predicted, lips curled upward in a sinful smile.

Thalia glared at the girl for her immoral statement. "You really are a daughter of Hades."

"What did you say? Daughter of what?" Gwendolyn turned sharply towards her.

"Pluto. I said Pluto."

"No, you said—"

"I say a lot of things, okay?" At Thalia's tone of voice, it was enough to make Gwendolyn drop it and forced herself to forget about it because in the end, it wasn't that big of a deal. Thalia really needed to stop mixing the gods' names.

Piper felt indefinite pain reside in her as she urged herself to run about the arena, avoiding Lupa's fast attacks. From the audience's eye, she must have looked pathetic running about. But running was really the only thing that was keeping her alive at the moment and she had no problem with it.

How long has it been already? To Piper, it felt like an eternity out on this arena.

And then Lupa was there, knocking the younger girl out from her feet. Piper cursed to herself when the sword she was holding flew from her hand. Her hand instinctively reached out to grab it when one of Lupa's claws smacked down upon her forearm, earning another crack. This time, Piper had no time to muffle her cries. Her screams echoed along the stone walls of the colosseum, causing some of the more faint-hearted campers to wince in place.

Lupa barked at her, and to Piper, it sounded like hard, wolfish laughter. Dulled by the pain, Piper didn't even feel it when the wolf clamped her teeth around Piper's foot. The teeth weren't hard enough to sink into her ankle, but it was hard enough to secure the foot in her mouth. With an animal growl, Lupa dragged Piper out back into the middle. Piper had tried to grab anything to hold her back, but there had been nothing but dirt.

Piper's screams only enhanced when Lupa scratched her all over. Blood definitely seemed to be the permanent fashion statement in this camp. It was not long before the red liquid drenched her body. Anguished tears pooled at Piper, and she wished this whole thing to be over. Piper and fighting did not mix well. Why couldn't she have been a daughter of Ares or Mars or some other fighting god?

_That's odd,_ Dakota tilted his head to the side as he assessed the situation. _She should have stopped by now. _

Thalia froze. "How long has it been?"

_It passed the first hour a long time ago. _

There was a pause between the girl and the wolf. They stilled their talk to watch as Lupa tortured Piper even more. The wolf's teeth sank in the bundle of Piper's brown hair, dragging some of the tendrils out.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gwendolyn hissed when Thalia had suddenly jolted up from her seat. She followed the blue eyes that were trained solely on Piper and Lupa. It clicked together. "Don't even think about it. You'd be breaking the rules, and you're already in deep shit with Lupa as it already is."

"But Lupa broke her own rule," Thalia retorted easily. "She was supposed to stop fighting Piper already."

"Lupa makes her own rules as she goes," Gwendolyn narrowed her eyes, her hand reaching out to grab Thalia's elbow, her nails digging into the pale skin. "She can change them if she wanted to."

Thalia put a leg over the ledge, ready to jump headlong into the arena. She was sure she and Gwendolyn were making quite the small spectacle as a couple pairs of eyes landed on them. It was hard to ignore some crazy girl about ready to enter the arena and another girl trying to drag her back.

"Why do you even care anyway?" Thalia snapped, trying to pry her elbow back. "Surely, you'd love to see me get in trouble with Lupa."

"But then _I_ would get in trouble for not keeping you out of it."

Something beforehand told Thalia that Gwendolyn cared just a little bit, until the daughter of Pluto opened her mouth to object her opinion. She found out that the girl was only trying to protect herself. She thought if Thalia got in trouble, then Gwendolyn would too.

Thalia narrowed her blue eyes at her with so much baleful ire, it caught Gwendolyn by surprise. "You disgust me."

Finally extracting her arm away from Gwendolyn's constraining hold, Thalia leaped over the ledge and landed on the dirt of the arena on her two feet. She could feel all eyes on her once more as she crossed the pitch, heading towards the sword that lay discarded away. The campers were torn from watching Lupa rip Piper away to watching what Thalia was doing.

Gwendolyn could only watch, astonished that the girl would even consider such a thing. A thump landed beside her and a blond head of hair was leaning over the edge.

"What's she doing?" Jason demanded urgently.

She shrugged listlessly, Thalia's earlier words still affecting her. "Heading to her own death. Who knows?"

Thalia headed for the sword, but midway, she changed her direction. She crept over to where Lupa was bent over Piper's broken body, busying herself with the red blood. Thalia was glad to find out that Piper was still conscious, despite her condition. The young girl's eyes widened slightly to see Thalia standing over Lupa, but Thalia put her index finger to her lips, an indication of complete silence.

The white wolf ears folded back, sensing another presence. Lupa snarled, turning around. Who _dared_ interrupt her judgment? Something entirely hard struck Lupa's snout, a sound of splinting resounding on the side of the wolf's face.

Another hard force similar to the former one landed atop her head, causing her to jump off of Piper. Next, a knee roughly connected to Lupa's side, the wolf growling at the sudden short pain.

Lupa licked over her teeth, tasting copper and metal in her mouth. She bit around, testing her mouth to find out that that there was an ache in her jaw. The hard thing that had struck her had been a clenched, pale fist. She watched, silver eyes hardening on the spot as Thalia crawled over to where Piper was. The wolf chose not to attack.

"It's okay, I've got you," Thalia murmured quietly, helping Piper sit up. She observed the girl's body with a critical eye, concluding that Piper was in desperate need of the infirmary if she wanted to stay alive.

Piper flinched as her hip readjusted itself. "Ow…"

_You were not supposed to interfere, little pup. _

Little pup. She hasn't been called that in a while. "And you should have stopped a long time ago," Thalia replied shortly.

_So I was enthusiastic,_ Lupa defended herself calmly. _You do realize it is not every day I get to do a judgment._

Thalia ignored her, her hands doing a convoluted mix of signals to the audience. Because she was consul of the First Legion, the campers listened to her and the barred gates opened. If she had been from a lower legion, they probably wouldn't have listened to her so quickly. Immediately came out a couple of those from the Third Legion, carrying a long stretcher.

"One hour only, Lupa," Thalia deadpanned, heaving Piper onto the stretcher. She carefully placed Piper's arm inside, tentatively enough to not hurt Piper even more. "Broke your own rule."

The legion members carried Piper away, and at that moment, Lupa chose to shift into her human form. The woman that Thalia had originally thought of as an ice queen didn't look so high and mighty as the older woman wiped the blood that was trickling from her jaw. She looked at Thalia with so much intensity, it had the crowd leaning over to see. Much anticipation was traded around in regards as to what their camp director was going to do with the First Legion's consul.

"You are the first to ever disobey me, little pup," Lupa commented.

The first to ever disregard Lupa in such a manner. Thalia Grace was an automatic threat.

Thalia crossed her arms, eyes steady and holding Lupa's calculating gaze. "Well?"

Lupa lifted an eyebrow. "Well what?"

"Aren't you going to punish me?" Thalia asked her. "Aren't you going to whip me for breaking the rules— even though you broke the rule yourself, but _of course_ that doesn't matter, right?" she attacked sarcastically.

"Do you want me to punish you?"

Thalia snorted. "Do whatever you have to do."

She really hated the silence that followed. Lupa edged around her, circling the daughter of Jupiter. Thalia's eyes trailed back to the audience. She could see Jason's worried face, Reyna's shaky and composed demeanor, Gwendolyn's cold, but focused gaze, Hazel's pale face, and Kenneth's concerned stare.

"You won't be whipped," Lupa finally decided, her face blank.

"Yay," Thalia responded lifelessly.

Lupa laughed, and although it was quiet, the sound shrieked in her ear. "That doesn't mean that you won't be punished."

Thalia cocked her head in confusion at her. Before she could say whatever she had to say, she was cut off when black clouded her eyes.

The colosseum was silent as the daughter of Jupiter fell to the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Okay, so Piper isn't the _best_ fighter out there, but kudos to her for holding it in that long, right? I know for sure she isn't going to be placed in the First Legion, so which legion do you guys think she would be in? You decide! Oh, and don't forget to review!


	12. Visit Reginae

**Chapter Twelve: Visit Reginae**_  
>The Queen's Visit<em>

The last thing she saw had been an abyss of blackness. It was funny in a dry sort of way because this epitomizing of darkness was also the first thing Thalia met the moment she opened her eyes.

Or maybe her eyes were still closed.

So this must be her punishment for defying Lupa's grand rules. Thalia snorted at the irony. Of all the people she had just met in this place, Lupa was the biggest hypocrite she had ever met. Lupa could surely get away with breaking her own rules, but Thalia couldn't? The woman certainly did have that whole _'they're my rules so I could break them if I wanted to'_ attitude. And here Thalia thought camp directors like Lupa were supposed to set an example.

Thalia grappled blindly in the darkness, her hands searching for something to help her stand up. There was no object within any distance of her. Her palm shot out and hit something smooth and solid. It was a wall and that was an immediate clue as to where she was. Most likely Thalia was trapped in a dark room. Blowing her bangs from her face, she leaned up against the wall and used most of the strength from her legs to push herself up. Her legs were shaky in the process of standing, and she was close to stumbling and falling back down again.

How long had she been unconscious?

In all honestly, Thalia felt like a large truck had hit her.

"Hello?" she openly greeted the darkness. Thalia somewhat knew that she wouldn't get a response back, but it had been worth a shot. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Stupid question.

Paranoia was getting the best of her. What if she was in that one room where people were watching her but she didn't know where they were? Lupa was probably one of these people, watching her every move with observation and detail. The woman was probably expecting Thalia to go crazy in this dark room all by herself. She could imagine Lupa waiting for Thalia to crack under the involuntary pressure, just for Lupa's private amusement.

Thalia simply sat back down, realizing that there was no way out of this room. All her hands met were solid and thick walls that withheld her from the outside. Legs stretched out, arms crossed loosely on her stomach, and her head leaned back against the wall. She wasn't getting out any time soon, so she might as well make herself comfortable.

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer," Thalia started singing the ridiculously easy song, biting her lip from laughing at herself. "Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall…"

She was pretty sure the gods and goddesses were laughing at her from wherever they were watching her. Their home was Mount Olympus, wasn't it? Was there a roman counterpart for that place too?

"Seventy-six bottles of beer on the wall, seventy-six bottles of beer," Thalia sang after a couple of moments. "Take one down, pass it around, seventy-seven beers—no, it's seventy-six bottles right? Or was it seventy-five? Aw, damn it. I can't even get through a simple song."

She was talking to herself.

Oh, this had to be the first sign of insanity.

Thalia repeatedly banged her head against the wall, in an attempt to keep herself occupied with something. And even that got boring after a while, and plus the fact that it was giving her a major headache.

"Dad?" she tried, speaking to her godly father, wishing that she could hear his voice in her mind in the usual way that they seldomly communicated. As expected, he didn't answer.

Well, he was the god of all gods, after all. He didn't have time to sit back and chitchat with anyone. Not even if that person was his daughter. It was okay, though. She didn't mind having a busy father.

But a sudden noise made her jolt upright.

"Hello?" she said again, her eyes darting wildly in the blackness. It proved useless, considering she saw nothing. "Who's there?" she demanded, her hands going for the clip that was usually adorned her hair.

Her hands couldn't find any of that cold material belonging to the golden barrette, and for the first time that day—or night, who knows? — she noticed that her hair was loose.

She took her golden barrette. Lupa _fucking_ took her barrette.

"Bitch," Thalia muttered lowly, anger starting to seep in at the thought of the she-wolf.

"No, but I have been referred by that name before. You are not the first to call me that," the voice answered by wryly.

The voice was a woman's. It sounded very regal and elegant. _You know this woman, _a voice whispered in her head, and Thalia was surprised her father was answering her. A little late, but better late than never. _You know her._

"I do?" she asked back.

_She's my wife. _

* * *

><p>Piper could hear whispers around her, flying around so carelessly as though she was immune to them.<p>

When she opened her eyes sluggishly, she noticed that the first thing she saw was Jason's face. Just looking at him made her swoon, and the fact that he had been there made her even happier. The only letdown to her waking up and seeing Jason was the fact that Gwendolyn was there also, but she looked upset about it.

These two demigods weren't the only ones with her. There were two brunette kids, and a honey blonde haired girl in the same room, and the five teenagers seemed to all have a conversation with each other, not noticing the fact that Piper had woken up.

She tried to be stealthy, to listen into their conversation, but once she had shifted on the infirmary bed, all five heads snapped to her at once.

"Piper," Jason let a relieved smile break out on his face. "You were knocked out for a couple of days. We were worried for you there."

"_We_?" Gwendolyn shot back acerbically.

Jason glared at Gwendolyn, choosing to ignore the girl. His gaze softened upon turning back to Piper. He shot her a gaze that said not to mind the daughter of Pluto, to which Piper responded by rolling her eyes.

Piper used her hands to push herself up into a sitting position, she noticed a swelling ache burning at her right forearm, prompting her to take a curious peek at it. She gasped softly, forgetting that five other people were in the room with her. Where once her forearm had been bare, now laid a tattoo of a majestic eagle with the letters SPQR tattooed in dark ink over the bird. It was the same tattoo she saw on Thalia's and Jason's arms.

"How—when…?" she sputtered, but she couldn't get her words straight.

The honey blonde haired girl smiled gently. "You got the tattoo while you were unconscious. Lupa doesn't like to wait for anyone, so she ordered your tattoo a couple days ago. I'm Reyna by the way, daughter of Minerva. This is Hazel, daughter of Apollo," she pointed over at the light brown haired girl, who grinned, "and this is Kenneth, son of Mercury," she pointed at the brunette boy, who only nodded in response. "And I'm sure you know who Jason and Gwendolyn are already."

"I do," Piper said a bit dazedly, still dumbfounded by her new tattoo.

"You passed Lupa's judgment, which means you get to train here with us," Jason said.

"This place is split into five legions," Hazel explained, sitting on the side of the small bed. "The First Legion is the highest, and the Fifth Legion is the lowest. Based on your judgment, Lupa put you in the Third Legion."

Piper was surprised. "But she nearly killed me out there. Shouldn't I be in the Fifth Legion?"

Hazel smiled, shaking a head. "Don't doubt yourself too much. While fighting you, Lupa must have sensed some potential in you. She put you in the Third Legion because you were pretty adept in lasting the fight, but you still lack a few fighting abilities. You're here to train so we could help you."

"And what legion are you all in?" Piper asked the lot of them.

They all answered at once. "First."

Immediately after, Piper felt insufficient.

"You're a charmspeaker," Gwendolyn pointed out, dark brown eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you charmspeak Lupa instead of wasting your time in getting your ass kicked all over the place? You were given powers for a reason."

Piper surged forward, arms raised to punch Gwendolyn, but Hazel held her back in place. "To charmspeak, you have to speak," she talked slowly, making sure the other girl was hearing the words clearly. "I couldn't charmspeak because I didn't have time to open my mouth and talk. If you didn't notice, I was busy defending myself."

Gwendolyn didn't like the way Piper was talking to her. Piper talked to her as though Gwendolyn was stupid.

"You know, I agree with you wholeheartedly when you said you should have been in the Fifth Legion."

"Gwen," Jason started, sighing.

"Why do you think that?" Piper threw back, not backing down.

"Isn't it obvious?" Gwendolyn strained her eyes coldly on Piper, stripping the daughter of Venus to the core. "You're the reason why Thalia's being punished. So thank you, Piper, for taking our consul away from us."

"That's enough," Jason gritted through his teeth, his hand clasping hardly onto Gwendolyn's elbow. "Go back to your quarters, Gwen," his eyes blazed with hard fire. "That's an order."

Gwendolyn's jaw clenched as she took a step back. Her eyes swept back and forth, before finally setting upon Piper's one more time. She glared at her with so much malice, Piper had no doubt this girl was a daughter of Pluto. Gwendolyn then stormed outside the infirmary room, but if looks could kill…

All this time, Piper hadn't noticed.

Thalia wasn't here.

Piper's eyebrows pulled together. "What did she mean by saying Thalia's being punished because of me?"

No one really wanted to answer her.

"Well," Kenneth spoke up for the first time, his hand reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "Thalia broke the rules by coming in to help you. No one is supposed to have help on his or her judgment, and Thalia just jumped in and stopped Lupa for you."

"But technically, Thalia had a right to jump in," Hazel added. "Lupa surpassed her limit. She was only supposed to fight you for an hour at most, but she went on much longer than that."

Piper remembered it all now. She remembered feeling useless and helpless out on the arena grounds, and remembered Thalia standing over Lupa before she barged in and attacked Lupa. Thalia _did _save her.

Piper asked the fated question. "Where is she now?"

At this, Kenneth looked down, his eyes downcast. Hazel had an anxious look on her face, in which she shared that look with Reyna across the room. Jason too, had a troubled look about his handsome face, but he was the one that spoke next.

"We don't know where she is. She's been missing ever since your judgment."

* * *

><p>Thalia wondered if she should bow in the presence of the Queen.<p>

She didn't know what difference it would make, considering she was still blinded by the annoying blackness.

"Should I refer to you as Hera or Juno?" Thalia finally asked.

"Let's go with Juno," the Queen of the gods answered back shortly. "It does not matter, since we are playing with darkness, but I want you to be more familiar with your Roman terms. I'm sure you must be confused as to why I put you here."

Wait a minute.

"You…" Thalia couldn't even say it past her disbelief. "_You_ were the one who put me here? Did you take my memories away too?"

"Yes."

Thalia sat, shocked as she let her head fall limply against the wall. For weeks—nearly a month, she had been wondering why she was here and why her memories had been taken away from her like a gamble. And now the sole reason was right here in this trapped dark room with her. If only she had her sword with her right now…

"I sense that you are angry," came Juno's quiet, calm voice.

"No shit, Sherlock," Thalia snapped back. "Why wouldn't I be angry? I still don't know who I am or why I'm here! You took everything away from me! My life, my memories, my friends—"

"All for a good reason," Juno interrupted.

"And what reason is that, my _Queen_?" Thalia snarled in a mocking manner.

Juno smiled, even though Thalia couldn't see it. "I needed a hero, Thalia. I'm very picky in the heroes I choose, and of all the demigods I have considered, you were the perfect one."

"Don't you hate all children of Zeus or Jupiter?" Thalia retorted.

"There is always an exception to the rule."

_Yeah, right, _Thalia thought bitterly. She played like that against Lupa's rules and look where that got her.

"You do not know it now," Juno continued when Thalia decided to remain silent. "But you are the most important player in what is about to come. Another war is stirring amongst the titans, and they are unsettled with the outcome of the last war. They are even allying with the giants. I suppose you should think of this as a chess game between the gods and the titans."

Thalia snorted. "A war is a chess game to you? What am I, your pawn?"

Juno chuckled lightly. "Did I not say earlier that you were my hero? A hero is not merely a pawn. In fact, Thalia, you are my rook. The rook's value is bigger than that of a knight of a bishop, but smaller than that of a queen's."

"I know that," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Of course you do," Juno smiled with practiced patience. "The titans have already snatched away the queen piece. Now the rook can move along the ranks and files of the chessboard as long as it doesn't bump over another piece, which gives the piece one of the higher advantages. There is no limit as to how many spaces the rook can move, as long as it is within the same color. In essence, you can strike anywhere as long as it is within reason."

"You're the stolen queen, aren't you?"

"In literal terms, yes," Juno answered. "I cannot tell you where I am, but I am trapped. They are draining my powers to awaken something that should not be woken up. Do you know how a pawn becomes a queen or any other higher piece?"

Thalia bit the inside of her cheek, deep in thought. "Doesn't the pawn have to reach the other side?"

"Correct. The board must be cleared for the pawn's safety to move to the other side. Or the pawn must find an opening to get into the other side. The king must be protected, so he must not move. Since the queen has been taken, that piece is out of the question too. The only pieces useful are the knight, the bishop, and the rook. The bishop can move diagonal, and the knight can jump over pieces, but it can only move four places in an 'L' shape. The rook can move straight left and right or up and down, no matter how many places without having another piece in its way. You, my rook, must clear the chessboard so that the pawn becomes a queen. And once the pawn becomes a queen…" she let Thalia continue.

"Then you'll be returned to the gods," Thalia finished.

She had to save the Queen of the gods.

"But why me? Why did you choose me as your hero?" Thalia asked, wishing she could look at the Juno's face amidst all this darkness. "Besides you thinking that I'm the perfect and right hero for you."

"I want you to list all the heroes you know. It doesn't matter if they are Greek or Roman—just list them."

"Okay," the blue-eyed demigod pondered for a moment, her index finger tapping thoughtfully at her chin. "Well, there's Achilles, Hercules, Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus…"

At the name 'Perseus', Thalia's heartbeat sped up. She had no idea why she was feeling that way though. There was something familiar about that name, like she knew a boy with the same name as the Greek hero.

"Do you not see the problem?"

Thalia tilted her head to the side. "There's a problem?"

That earned another chuckle from Juno. "All these heroes are _male_. A female has yet to make a name amongst the list of the greatest heroes. It is time for the world to see a heroine, I should say. Not mainly for the cause of feminism, but we need more heroines in this world. I never asked, but will you be my hero?"

"I don't have a choice now, do I?" Thalia replied sarcastically, almost laughing at the end.

"No, you don't," Juno smiled, and it went unknown to the demigod. "This is your first task. Once it is finished, I will tell you your second one. Clear the board and make the pawn a queen. Set me free, my rook."

A quiet _pop_ signaled that the Queen was gone. Thalia wondered how Juno made it here to speak with Thalia, if Juno had been trapped the entire time by the Titans. Maybe the whole thing was a hallucination.

In the same moment, light cascaded in the dark room, nearly blinding Thalia's eyes. Thalia squinting against the painful light, making out a figure blurred against the sudden lights.

"Did you have fun?" It was Lupa. "You're punishment is done. I hoped you learned something after this, little pup. You are free to go back to your headquarters."

The light allowed Thalia to look at her surroundings.

She had been in an empty closet the entire time.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I remember when I used to update almost every day. Man, those were the good ol' days... Anyway, enjoy this one! I put Piper in the Third Legion because she has more potential than what she's shown, she just doesn't realize it yet. And don't stop the reviews!


	13. Virgines Vestales

**Chapter Thirteen: Virgines Vestales**_  
>Vestal Virgins<em>

"Again."

A part of Thalia feels terrible in the way she has been forcing Piper into jumping up back on her feet and gripping her sword for her life in the strikes and parries that follow. Another part of her doesn't quite feel pity for the younger girl all. This part of her is cold and emotionless, due to how Roman ways have inevitably shaped her. Emptiness fills her as she repeatedly watches Piper stand up right after she's fallen, knowing fully well that Piper must learn every secret there was to surviving this camp.

Once again, irony is being played in the situation. Demigods come to this Roman camp to train and to feel _safe_, but in this camp, it's just as dangerous as it is in the outside world.

"Your sword is too low," Thalia commented quietly, her long ponytail swaying ruthlessly with each tilt of her head. "That means that your upper half is exposed, and if your opponent sees this, you're dead before you even know it."

Piper tightened her grip on her sword, lifting it higher to cover herself. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Thalia responded with aloofness.

Thalia was acting like a total —for lack of a better word— bitch. She had just realized that she had been in that damn empty closet for nearly a week, feeling malnourished and tired after coming out of it. At the same time, stress is getting to her because she realized that she had to be the one to save Juno or Hera, even though she had no clue how to. To top it all off, she was still coping with retrieving back her memories while developing the powers that were gifted to her as a daughter of Jupiter, as well as training her legion like the consul she was supposed to be.

She needed sleep.

Badly.

At a short nod of her head, she signaled Piper to make the first move. Piper was getting better—well, she was better than she had been before. The girl thrust her sword to the right in a feint move, but Thalia saw it coming. Thalia's sword twisted to the left side before Piper could even strike her there and for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day, Piper's sword was disarmed from her.

Hazel, who had been the observer, remained unperturbed when Piper's sword flew at a close distance to her. Her arms were crossed as her premeditating grass-green eyes trained themselves on Piper. "Again," she concluded after a while, deeming that their session wasn't done yet.

Piper bit back her sigh, turning to retrieve her sword. As much as she wanted to, she knew better than to speak up against the two First Legion girls. For the main reason, they could simply kill her with one snap of Thalia's sword, and one notch of Hazel's bow and arrow.

But just as she reached her sword, a hand had picked it up for her. A smile was immediately plastered on her fade after realizing that it was Jason. The butterflies in her stomach stirred as she looked at his face.

"Hey," he greeted. "How are you holding up?"

"How am I?" she repeated stupidly, shuffling her feet together. "To be honest, they're killing me."

Jason placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "They're just helping you. If Lupa sees that you've improved from the last time you saw her, you might just get moved to a higher legion."

"Even to First Legion?" Piper lifted an eyebrow cynically, her face masking as though that possibility was less likely to ever happen.

"You never know."

"Jason!" A close yell had both heads turning in the same direction, watching as Thalia walked up to them. She gently bumped the hilt of her sword against Jason's arm, causing his physical contact with Piper to come to an end. "Would you stop flirting with her? We have work to do."

Piper flushed a color that was also starting to appear on Jason's cheeks. "We weren't flirting," he defended himself meekly.

Thalia scoffed, rolling her eyes in the process. "Yeah, right."

Jason was about to yell, _"We weren't!"_ but he caught a good look at Thalia's face. Dark circles, an unusually gaunter face, the way her eyes could barely open…Jason could feel Thalia's restlessness just by looking at her. Ever since returning from Lupa's punishment, he noticed she had been having one of the worst of insomnias. He could tell that she was fretting over something, which was a result in her sleepless nights.

Something must have happened in that closet that was beyond than just Thalia sitting there in the dark. Thalia was looking as though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. The problem was that she wouldn't breathe a word of what had happened in the closet.

"Why don't you rest for a bit?" Jason offered, obvious worry in his tone. "I'll take over."

Thalia laughed dryly. "And have Lupa put me in another closet? Sure, I would love to stop and take a little nap."

At least the sarcasm was still there.

"Yes, Jason will take over," Hazel decided, appearing at Thalia's side.

"But I'm not tired," Thalia argued.

"This has nothing to do with your lack of sleep," Hazel retorted back. "The Vestal Virgins are here, and you and I have to escort them to their quarters."

Thalia blinked. "I'm sorry, did you say _virgins_?"

"Yes, come on." With that said, Hazel tugged on Thalia's elbow to greet said 'virgins'.

Once they were off the training fields, Thalia asked, "Who are these virgins?"

"The Vestal Virgins," Hazel corrected with an amused grin, "are a group of maiden priestesses responsible for maintaining the sacred fire and hearth of Rome. They devote their lives into holding rituals and ceremonies for the goddess Vesta as a promise to accept chastity for the first thirty years since their acceptance into the group. After the thirty years of chastity are done, the women would be released of their duties as free women. But over the last century, some of the younger females refused to leave, so they were granted immortality so that they could worship the hearth of Vesta for the rest of their lives."

Was it just Thalia or did Hazel sound bitter?

"That's…" Thalia couldn't think of any proper words to say. "Wow."

"Yeah, the only perk is the immortality. I'll warn you though, these girls could be a bit shallow."

"Why?"

The daughter of Apollo wrinkled her nose. "Sometimes when they come to stay here, they try to recruit some girls to join their group. They look for commitment, but they also look to see if a girl is large in her beauty."

Hazel nodded her head over at the entrance of the Roman camp. There, Thalia could see at least a dozen pretty, yet unfamiliar girls piling around. Their ages ranged with the youngest being ten or so, and the eldest being eighteen. The girls were donned in white, silky robes that covered their entire front and left no trace of skin. Each of the girls' hairstyles consisted between three to six braided plaits. A simple cloth strip was used to keep their hair away from their faces, and their feet were contained in soft, mitten sandals.

All the colors of their eyes were the same. Thalia couldn't explain it, but each of their eyes were the color of…fire.

One girl stepped in forward, and she was not much older than Thalia and Hazel were. A silver-glinted brooch adorned her dark hair, which differentiated her from the rest of the girls. She stooped down and bent gracefully. Hazel followed suit in a stiff manner and only did Thalia see what Hazel was doing did she bow down too.

"May," Hazel smiled, but the smile looked forced. "Good to see you again."

There seemed to be history between these two.

"Hazel." Unlike Hazel's uptight tone, this May girl had a sugary sweet voice. "Likewise," she paused, turning her head over to Thalia. The two girls assessed each other. "Is this girl new? I've never seen her around before."

"This is Thalia, daughter of Jupiter," Hazel introduced.

Thalia smiled, despite her drowsy face. "Hi."

A look of interest caught May. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Thalia," she smiled warmly. She peered at Thalia once more, giving her another long, calculating look before her gaze snapped to Hazel. "There is no need for an escort this time. I'm sure we can manage finding are headquarters on our own."

"Of course," Hazel's smile visibly tightened.

With a beckoning of her hand, May led the other girls past through the entrance and onto the camp grounds. They walked in two, straight lines, with May leading them in the front, her head demurely held up high.

"Gods, I hate her," Hazel muttered the moment the Vestal Virgins were out of earshot. One look from Thalia indicated that Hazel had to explain. "May attempted to recruit me to become a priestess a couple of years ago. I said no, but she was persistent. She and I exchanged a couple of insults, and it all went downhill from there. It isn't pleasant for either of us when they come here."

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows, "Why are they here?"

"They travel all over, spreading warmth as they go. They come here as a place to rest before they continue on," Hazel glared at the ground, digging her feet into the earth. "Because they claim that they deserve special treatment for what they do, Lupa allows them to stay in Hestia's quarters in the First Legion."

Oh.

Now Thalia understood why this wasn't going to be pleasant for Hazel in the next couple of days.

* * *

><p>Over the next few days that followed, Thalia became painfully aware of the obtrusive eyes that watched her. It seemed as though every time she turned around to confront the stares, the majority of them belonging to the Vestal Virgins, they wouldn't even move away. The strange girls only continued to watch her, unnerving as it was.<p>

The Vestal Virgins kept to themselves, besides the fact that they were living in the quarters of the First Legion. They sat at a table away from the rest of the legions, as well as distanced themselves from the training grounds, where most of the legion members spent the proximity of their time clashing swords and shedding blood. For some reason, the virgins reminded Thalia of another group of girls that were enclosed in the back of her mind.

There weren't cooks that cooked their meals for them. Each day, a different group of demigods were assigned to cook. That night, the children of Ceres cooked dinner. Every food on the table had the distinct smell and taste of that of a sweet, herbal flower. Also that night, the children that were assigned to clean up after dinner were those of Jupiter, and Thalia deemed it unfair—not because she was in fact a child of Jupiter—but because there were only _two_ kids of Jupiter. And there were a hell of a lot of dishes to clean.

Thalia scowled at the mess the Fourth Legion left behind. "Jason, you had to clean _all by yourself_?" she asked, thinking how it was like back then when Jason had been an only child. She made another face as she mopped at the gunk.

"Yeah," Jason called from inside the kitchen, where he was washing the dishes. They were the only two kids in the mess hall, so they could yell as loud as they wanted to. "But Lupa excused me from cooking the meals, considering it was only me."

"How about now that I'm here?"

Jason chuckled, soap seeping through his gloved hands. "I don't think two people could cook for hundreds in a short time."

"Thank the gods," Thalia muttered. "I can't cook anyway."

She ducked under the tables, groaning at what she saw. There were about a dozen pieces of chewed gum stuck under the table. This was still the Fourth Legion she was talking about here. What utter pigs they were. And where did they even get gum in the first place?

"_Canis filius,"_—son of a bitch— she randomly cursed.

Learning Latin was fun, especially if they were profanities.

"Jason! Could you throw me a spatula?"

There was a pause before something metal clinked a few feet away from her. Gripping the metal spatula, Thalia completely ducked under the table and starting scraping off the gum one by one. Gritting her teeth, she rammed the spatula against the table like her life depended on it. This proved to be one of the worst punishments ever, even though it wasn't a punishment in the first place. This was only a kitchen duty.

When she was on her seventh gum, Thalia suddenly noticed a pair of sandaled feet. Her head moved to the side from under the table, blinking against the light. "May?"

The leader of the Vestal Virgins smiled. "Hello, Thalia."

"What are you—wait, hold on…" Thalia roughly scraped against the seventh gum, getting it completely off before placing the disposed gum into the plastic bag beside her. She refused to take a break, so she started on the next gum. "You needed something?"

"Is the ground clean?" May asked politely.

"I mopped it a while ago."

"Ah," May said as she recognized the clean ground. She peered around her before plopping down, sitting cross-legged with her hand folded on her lap as she watched the blue-eyed girl scrape at the gum, and maybe some of the wood too. She cleared her throat. "If I may, I have a proposition for you."

Metal scratched wood. "Do you?"

"Yes. If you have not noticed, the Vestals and I have been watching you," May continued. So they _had_ been staring at her and it was not a part of Thalia's imagination. "You seem like the perfect candidate for our proposal, and not to mention the fact that you are very pretty."

"Uh, thanks?" Thalia felt flattered, but it was still odd.

"Will you do us the honor by joining the Vestal Virgins?"

Oh…crap.

"_I shall have a new lieutenant," the goddess announced simply, claiming silence over the room. It dawned to her that she was Artemis. "If she will accept it." _

_The boy with the seawater eyes paled, a murmur passing his lips. "No." _

_Artemis smiled encouraging towards the blue-eyed girl to the side. "Thalia, daughter of Zeus, will you join the Hunt?" _

_Stunned silence filled the room as they awaited Thalia's answer. The gods and goddesses looked at her patiently, while a war raged inside her mind. A blonde girl with curly hair stepped forward, her grey eyes showing worry that she would join. _

_A hand enclosed around her elbow, causing Thalia to turn. It was that boy. Seaweed Brain. His thumb rubbed against her skin, his fingers gripping her with no thought of letting her go. "Don't," he pleaded quietly, actual fear in his eyes. _

_His face was enough for her to make her decision. _

"_No," Thalia responded firmly. "I will not join, my Lady." _

_Artemis looked shocked. "Thalia—"_

"_My daughter stands by her choice," Zeus stood up, having the final word. "If she does not wish to join the Hunt, then she will not." _

_She had given up immortality. But the relieved, exuberant look on Seaweed Brain's face was worth giving it up._

So Thalia declined yet a second time. "No."

May blinked, as though she hadn't heard clearly. "Pardon?"

"I'm honored by the offer," Thalia lied, making it sound like she meant it. "But I don't think being a Vestal Virgin is the right path for me. I'd probably break the rules a minute after I'm accepted."

"But you haven't tried." Hazel was right about May's persistence.

"I don't want to try."

May narrowed her eyes. "I hope you realize that this opportunity won't come up again, Thalia."

Thalia shrugged carelessly in response. "I know, and I'm fine with that." With that said, the girl bent back under the table and began to work at cleaning the table.

The leader of the Vestal Virgins was still there, refusing to move. There was an awkward silence between the two girls, with Thalia filling the gap by making noises with her metal spatula. And then, finally, May got up to her feet. She quietly walked away, without sparing a glance back at Thalia.

Hours later, when the two children of Jupiter were finally done with their cleaning, they immediately retired to their quarters, bidding good-night to each other.

"Good night, Thalia."

"Night, Jason."

Thalia fell right away to sleep the moment she hit the pillows. However, the moment she slept was the moment a second flashback came to her.

_The six year old girl walked outside, not bothering at all to close the door behind her. Thalia was careful as she carried Jason away from the horrid house, breaking away for a while, just to relieve themselves of their alcoholic of a mother. _

"_Just needed to get away," Thalia murmured, cradling her younger brother closer to her. "Isn't it much better out here, Jason? Don't you wish you could live out here instead of in there?" _

_The blonde two year old babbled away in nonsense. Thalia only smiled. "I can't understand a word you're saying sometimes, but it's adorable anyway." _

_The children made it to a large, but vast park. Thalia immediately went over to a gigantic oak tree, where she settled down with Jason on her lap. She watched as Jason looked around curiously in the toddler manner of his. It seemed that the ordinary things caught by Thalia were the extraordinary pleasures to Jason. _

_Thalia's finger skimmed gently at the tiny, newly-acquired scar on Jason's small upper lip. "I shouldn't have let Mom watch you that day…" she trailed off, remembering the mess of the day. "I still can't believe she let you play with a stapler." _

"_Lia," Jason gurgled, giving her a toothless grin. _

"_I should have been there instead of school," Thalia's gaze softened upon the boy. She bit her lip and for the first time, Thalia started to cry. "I'm sorry, Jason."_

_Jason was confused at the wet substance that leaked out of his older sister's eyes. What was it? _

_Out of curiosity, his petite, chubby fingers reached out tentatively and touched at the tears. _

_Thalia sniffed before kissing his forehead. She rested her cheek atop the crown of his head. "I love you, Jason. I promise, I won't let anything happen to you again." _

_Love. Weird word. "Lo…Lia." He had tried to say 'Love Lia'. _

"_Yes," Thalia smiled fondly at what Jason was grasping to say. "I love you." _

Thalia woke up in a flurry, her heart pounding wildly in her chest as she tried to calm her breathing. She didn't know what time it was, neither did she care.

He not only shared a father with her, but he shared a mother with her as well.

Jason was her _brother_.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **After thirteen chapters, Thalia finally figures it out. About time, huh?

So I was checking the Percy Jackson wikia, doing some research and whatnot, and I found something on the Vestal Virgins. It says that the Hunters of Artemis reflect the Vestal Virgins of Ancient Rome and it was possible to say that the Vestal Virgins were the roman counterpart of the Hunters. I thought it was cool, so I decided to add them in. Originally, it was said that there could only be a total of six Vestal Virgins at a time, but I changed that number so that they could really reflect the Hunters of Artemis.

This was a faster update, wasn't it? I saw the 70 mark and it just encouraged me to update faster. Thank you for the reviews!


	14. Susurris Latet

**Chapter Fourteen: Susurris Latet**_  
>Hidden Whispers<em>

She swiveled through the crowd like impalpable wisps of smoke—there, but unseen.

The demigods were watching a particular match between a member of the First Legion, and the same legion's very own praetor. It was obvious to see that Jason had to upper hand in the fight. How could he not? He was the praetor. One would be a fool not to know what that meant. It was expected of him to succeed above most. His victim, unfortunately, was receiving the worst brunt of Jason's attacks, resulting not only in an injured physical form, but also a wounded pride.

Jason was a monster in battle. Whereas he might have been kind and gentle when not in combat, his ferocity was shown with his double-edged sword. His militant personality extraordinarily brightened, his electric blue eyes set, and his objective to win. Speaking of those blue eyes, how had she not seen it before? Would stupidity keep striking her over and over again?

They had the same exact eyes for gods' sakes.

For the second time since meeting each other, Gwendolyn's hand landed on Thalia's elbow. "I thought you would have learned by now," she said with utter disdain, holding Thalia back from entering Jason's fight with his fellow legion member.

Thalia's darkened blue eyes trailed down to where the daughter of Pluto was holding her. Bright blue eyes flashed indigo, causing electricity to cackle around the two girls.

With a surprised yell, Gwendolyn removed her hand from Thalia's elbow. Scorched marks aligned her palm, reddened and blackened in some places. She could feel the blisters underneath those angry, heated lashes. A small odor lingered in the air, smelling similar to that of deeply burnt flesh. Her burnt flesh.

Thalia had _shocked_ her.

Well, that was a new power, wasn't it?

The daughter of Jupiter merely sneered at Gwendolyn, and the facial expression did not resemble Thalia at all. Her furious eyebrows were drawn together, staring at the other girl with a disinterested face, as though she was telling Gwendolyn that the girl was not worth Thalia's time. Thalia moved past Gwendolyn with success this time, and as she moved, currents of electricity flowed after her, touching Gwendolyn's skin again, although this shock wasn't as painful as the first.

Jason had succeeded in piercing his opponent's skin with the tip of sword, releasing an opening for the apparent blood to spill out. His opponent shook with dark bruises and other large, cut marks along his skin. Just when Jason was about to deliver the final blow, his opponent was quickly shoved to the side by an unperceived force. The boy he had been fighting dropped onto his knees, the sword clear from his hand as he spat blood down upon the dirt.

The blond praetor watched in bewilderment as Thalia bent and picked up the dropped sword. She twirled the sword around expertly, like how one would wind a baton. In silence, mostly added by the budding consternation of the fellow demigods that watched this encounter, Thalia cocked her head at him, gaze piercing and hitting a nerve in Jason. Something struck Jason as something wrong in the situation, clued in by his sister's evident, cold manner. Jason had opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but he never had the chance.

Thalia's sword flew forward in such a mercurial feat that Jason had only little time to deflect the hard blow acting upon him so suddenly. His eyes only widened more at the next attack that came, one that almost had Jason disarmed. Thalia played relentless offense, and Jason played flabbergasted defense. Every Roman that surrounded the tight circle stilled. The fight between brother and sister had to finally come.

Jason hastily parried with his sword. "Tha—"

She only ignored him, succeeding as she cut a thin, red line across his right forearm. "Shut up and fight," she hissed through clenched teeth. She stepped back in one movement and jabbed again.

By now, the winds had started to form, erupting so violently the moment Thalia's sword met with Jason's. Both fighters of the same were controlling the winds in entirely different panels. Jupiter could not choose one of his children over the other.

It was very hard to say who had the upper hand in this battle. Sure, Jason was clearly stronger both in strength and physical constitution, but Thalia was lighter, faster, and sneakier in her skills. The Roman demigods were kept on their toes, reacting when blow met blow between the fated siblings.

It was far beyond pointless in reasoning Thalia with words by now. Every time he tried to talk to her, she only retaliated with a hit that would have knocked him over if he hadn't been so trained all his life. Naturally, his anger reached a point as well, and as the minutes passed by, the fight was beginning to look the most brutal in all legion training. The odd thing was that neither consul nor praetor had been maimed or touched by the other sword. They fought like professionals, but both looked as though they were ready to kill each other. Their matched vigor pleased the audience of the demigods.

Despite the true intentions to maim each other, their battle was quite beautiful. The crowd watched unblinkingly as the sparing between Jason and Thalia grew to a crescendo, heated up every second that dwindled past. Soon, in their carnal ballet, it was beginning to prove impossible to tell who was who, and only Thalia's long black hair and Jason's blond head differentiated the siblings. They demigods looked in earnest, noting the tactics employed as they each strove for mastery.

The end of the match came the most unexpectedly when an arrow flew past, stopping the two opposing swords from touching each other. Thalia and Jason breathed harshly—not from exhaustion, but from frustration.

Thalia refused to move her glare from the blond boy. "Hazel."

"Hey, I had to," Hazel responded easily, fingering her bow gently. "Otherwise, the both of you would have never stopped until you killed each other. What's up with the tension?"

"Ask _her_," Jason retorted, irked at the blue-eyed girl opposite of him.

"You have no right to be mad at me," Thalia snapped.

"Oh, really?" he laughed sarcastically, fingers turning white as he clutched the hilt of his sword. "You come in the battle, trying to murder me—"

The rest of his words died in his throat as Thalia angrily threw the sword that wasn't hers down, the clinging of metal loud as it collided with the dirt. Her arms crossed rigidly, her fingernails sinking deeply into her inner forearms. She gripped it entirely too tight, she was sure dented marks would be left there when she let go.

"Why didn't you tell me you were my brother?"

The fellow Romans watched as all blood left Jason's face, leaving him as pale as Thalia usually was. He swallowed nervously, caught in the act, wanting to look away but unable to do so. All he could really thing was: _Oh, shit._

Thalia tapped her foot impatiently. "Well?"

"I—um—" he couldn't come up with an explanation.

"Just forget it," Thalia replied quickly, sensing Jason's jumble of incoherent words. Her eyes didn't lose any of that ire and it made her irises look like steel instead of blue. She turned around, shoving past the people who watched, as she walked away from the training grounds.

And to think that everyone else knew that Jason was her brother. Everyone except her. They had all been hiding it.

Apparently, all that had been a waste of her time.

* * *

><p>For the remainder of the week, Thalia avoided Jason as though he were a plague. During meals, she wouldn't sit at the same table with him, and their relationship was even more strained, considering the two shared the same headquarters. For the first time since Thalia's arrival, the quarters of Jupiter were silent.<p>

That night she skipped dinner, deciding that she just didn't have the appetite for it. Unusual as it was, since she was always hungry and she never remembered being _not_ hungry. Sitting cross-legged on a random patch of grass, she gazed aimlessly at the white stars that continued their endless circle in the caliginous sky above her. Beside her sat Dakota, who busied himself by tearing at a bloody piece of meat from an animal he had hunted in the woods. Her hand was placed along his fur, petting him unconsciously and not realizing that she was doing so.

_You cannot be mad at him forever,_ she could hear her father's voice chide in her head. _He had a good reason. You have to forgive him._

"No."

Dakota lifted his face from his dinner. _I beg your pardon?_

Had she said that out loud? "Nothing, Kota. Just keep eating."

_Will do, Snow,_ he winked at her before eagerly returning to his food.

She fell back against the grass, crossing her arms behind her head with her legs sprawled out. Closing her eyes, she let herself go to some state of relaxation, allowing herself to forget about the past events. It was actually comfortable lying like that, so comfortable she could almost go to sleep…

"Thalia?"

Of course, she could never get any rest around here.

She didn't need to open her eyes to know who it was. "What?"

"We need to talk."

Thalia couldn't hold in her snort. "Are you breaking up with me?" she retorted wittily. One eye opened curiously to see Jason standing over her, a solemn look about his face. He wasn't going away either. "Oh, fine. Whatever."

Jason turned to Dakota. "Would you mind giving us a moment?"

"He doesn't have to leave," Thalia muttered in response, closing her eye again.

_I'm leaving anyway,_ Dakota stood up from his position and picked up his bloody meat with his pointed teeth. _I don't want to be caught up this. Work things out with him, will you?_ He pranced away, his figure becoming a blur when his speed picked up.

Jason slowly replaced the russet-colored wolf's spot. He glanced over at his sister, who hadn't moved an inch from her spot, acting as though he wasn't there. He sighed. Jason knew there would be repercussions to him keeping the brother-sister thing a secret, but he obviously didn't think it would be like this. Having Thalia mad at him was an even worse feeling than having her not remember him at all.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, breaking the silence that was starting to peak in.

"For?"

"Not telling you."

Silence. And then: "Okay."

Jason blinked in bemusement. "You're…you're not mad at me anymore?"

"Nope," Thalia lied through her teeth, yawning a minute later. Her hands tightened together firmly, the action exposing her real emotions to this ordeal, but Jason couldn't see it. "I just wanted to hear an apology from you."

The blond couldn't help but narrow his eyes suspiciously. "You're lying."

That statement got Thalia's eyes to open, and the flash in her eyes was not welcoming. "I'm not the one who's been lying here," she glared, and Jason immediately averted his gaze. Her eyes lifted back up to the sky, trying to spot any constellations amongst the sea of blackness. "Why'd you lie?"

"I lied because I didn't want to burden you with more problems than you already had," Jason replied softly. "I mean, you lost your memory and you're in a place you don't even know. That should be stressful enough for you already."

"Did it ever occur to you that I was having stress because I _couldn't_ remember anything?" she threw back. "It would have been nice if you at least gave me a hint instead of keeping it to yourself. It kinda hurt when I figured it out."

Jason's jaw clenched. "And you think I wasn't hurt too? Did you know we were apart for nearly fourteen years?" he asked, causing Thalia's eyes to dart back. "When I was two, I was taken from you and Mom and put here. I was too young to understand it, and I was even told that you were dead, yet I still remembered you. And then you suddenly popped here and I felt so happy knowing that you were actually alive. But I felt hurt when you didn't even remember me."

"It wasn't my choice, okay? You think I wanted my memories to go away?"

Both teenagers were flushed with anger as they stared daggers at each other before promptly looking away. Oddly, Thalia was the first to lose her anger as her gaze softened. "Jason, I'm sorry."

Jason shook his head. "No, I'm sorry…again."

She smiled, all feelings of acrimony slipping away. "You said you were taken. Who took you?"

"My patron," Jason responded. "Juno."

Thalia immediately shot forward at the familiar name. The abrupt action had Jason leaning back in surprise. "Juno? Juno as in the 'Queen-of-the-gods' Juno?"

"Is there any other Juno?"

Thalia paused in place, not realizing that Jason had a steady, concerned eye on her. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she changed, her hands going around her sides as her body shook with laughter. Jason watched, wide-eyed, as she laughed in something that resembled insanity. Her tone wasn't the usual light laughter he was used to hearing, but her laugh was dry and hollow, and almost dark.

"Hey," Jason placed a hand on her arm, holding her in place, "are you okay, Thals?"

"Sure," she continued chuckling, and the sound of her alien laughter had him cringing. "And she expects me to save her after separating us? After putting me here? After taking my memories away? Oh, that goddess is too much," she laughed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Her laughter eventually ceased, but a mocking smile adorned her face. "You know Juno visited me when I was in that closet?" she asked, waiting for Jason's reaction. "She was the reason I'm here, and she's the one who took my memories away. Turns out, she needs me to be her hero—her rook or whatever, and I'm supposed to save her before the Titans use her because she mentioned something about another war coming up—"

Jason froze. "Another war?"

"I said that, didn't I?"

Flashes of the last Titan war crept into Jason's mind. They were memories that he certainly did not want to revisit.

"And you said she was trapped by the Titans?" he repeated slowly.

Thalia nodded, the smile starting to disappear. Whatever high she had been on for the past five minutes was over.

"Well, we have to tell Lupa—"

"I'm not telling her anything," Thalia quickly replied, her voice low and coarse. "What's the point? She's probably figured it out already. She knows everything," she added bitterly.

"We have to!" His voice was incredulous. "They're could be potential for another war—"

"Funny how we were talking about you lying to me, and then it comes to this."

He ignored her statement. "Thalia."

Thalia turned a sharp gaze towards him. "Look, I'm _not_ going to tell Lupa, and I'm _definitely not_ going to save Juno. She could rot for all I care."

Serves the goddess right anyway. Juno had no right in doing what she did, and that goes for separating her from Jason and taking everything away from her.

Jason reached over and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Listen to me carefully. Another war could be coming towards us," he stressed out, giving her shoulders an extra shake to add the heavy emphasis. "I don't know if you remember the last war, but it was bad, okay? Juno's chosen you as her hero, so you have to accept."

"I don't want to do it," she sighed, almost tiredly. "You should do it. I think you'll be better at it than me anyway…"

"No!" He roughly shook her shoulders again. "She chose you, which means _you_ have to do it. Don't you understand how important this is?"

She guessed she didn't see the importance. She didn't want to do this.

Did she?

Thalia was torn in her decision as she willed herself to stare into the pair of blue eyes that was identical to her own. Now that she thought about it, she did in fact give her word to Juno that she would save her. She couldn't very well back out on her promise to the goddess—no matter how much she despised that goddess this moment.

Another part of her wanted to prove to the world that there could be a female hero among the legends.

The first amnesiac hero, as Hazel would call her.

"I know I'm going to regret this," she muttered.

Before she actually voiced her final decision, Jason was already pulling her up, dragging her towards Lupa's cave.


	15. Venti Septentrio

**A/N: **So, Thalia is going to take on Juno's quest. Because of the quest, the next few chapters may be book-verse from _The Lost Hero_ at most parts (although I try hard not to let it be) but I promise, there will be a twist that didn't quite happen in the book. I just noticed that this chapter is quite lengthy...

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen: Venti Septentrio<strong>_  
>Winds of the North<em>

"_Child of lightning, beware the earth,_

_The giants' revenge the seven shall birth,_

_The forge and dove shall break the cage,_

_And death unleash through Juno's rage."_

On the last word of the prophecy— _the_ prophecy to save ultimately save Juno— Thalia was met with blank looks that were only identical as she searched the faces of the people at the table. In response to them, Thalia shot an accusing glare towards Jason, as though telling him that this was his entire fault.

Last night, Jason did drag an unwilling Thalia to Lupa's cave. Thalia, believing that the hypocritical woman would at least provide some sage advice for her or some decent instructions for her to follow, was dismayed to find out that all Lupa had to say was the prophecy she had repeated to her friends. She had also mentioned something about 'following the monsters', but that made no sense. When Thalia had thought Lupa was no help at all, Jason had acted as though she had given the two of them a major clue.

A day later, Thalia decided that during dinner that she should tell everything that happened in the closet.

"It said breaking Juno's cage would unleash her rage, which would eventually be the cause of death," Hazel was the first to voice out what she thought. "If that happens then I don't think you should save Juno at all."

Thalia made a face. "It's not like I want to help her either." Here, she passed another dirty look at Jason, who merely ignored her and continued eating his dinner. "But I've go no choice. She chose me as her hero. Besides, I might get all of my memories back if I do save her."

"It's obvious you're the child of lightning," Reyna pointed out to Thalia, since Juno did issue the girl as the queen's hero rather than Jason. "And if it says to beware the earth, you should avoid traveling by land. You'll need to be in the air most of the time. We've got some pegasi you can use."

The blue-eyed daughter of Jupiter widened her eyes. "We have pegasi?" _Flying horses!_

Reyna nodded in amusement at Thalia's fascination. She continued to analyze the prophecy, "Next, you said something about giants' revenge the seven shall birth, right? I'm not sure about that though, but I think that the giants would somehow rise to defeat the Olympians, and cause seven of something to arise."

"The forge and dove shall break the cage," Thalia repeated in wonder. "So this forge and dove could help me set Juno free from wherever she is. Forge…isn't that the symbol of Hephae—Vulcan?"

Bobby, who she had earlier found out was from the Vulcan cabin, nodded in response. "If you need help like the prophecy says, I'd be glad to go on the quest with you."

"Really?"

"Anything to get away from here."

Thalia had a large grin stretched out on her face. "Thanks, Bobby."

"You also need a dove," Kenneth added, ruining the moment.

"I don't know any doves," Thalia replied thoughtfully as she looked around the mess hall. She gazed at all the children of Venus that she knew or could be potential for the quest, but none came to mind. "The only one I know is Piper, but I don't think she's up for it."

Jason shrugged. "You never know. Maybe she is."

"She can barely hold a sword," Hazel deadpanned with no sympathy.

The blond boy narrowed his eyes. "At least she's trying."

"Anyway," Thalia cut in before their little argument would turn into something much bigger. "Do you think she's ready, even though she's still getting the hang of this place?"

Reyna stared at Piper. "She's your best shot, unless you'd rather go with some other child of Venus."

Good point.

Thalia cupped her hands around her mouth. "Piper!" she yelled.

Her abrupt shout caused silence throughout the dining hall. Piper's head popped up from one of the Third Legion tables as she looked at who called her name. Her kaleidoscope eyes landed on their table as Thalia gestured her over. Piper walked nervously and modestly, very much aware of the stares she was receiving as she neared one of the tables belonging to the First Legion.

"Hey, Piper," Jason smiled in greeting.

"Well, someone's eager," Thalia commented dryly, causing both Jason and Piper to blush. Jason retaliated faster, glaring at his sister. Thalia ignored the look as she said, "Piper, do you like it here? I mean, this camp is great and all, but wouldn't you like to escape and get some fresh air for a while?"

Hazel sent Thalia a dark look that went on the lines of: _Get to the point._

Piper couldn't help but feel suspicion in her gut. "Why?"

"I have to go on the quest to save Juno, you know, Queen of the gods. And I need someone from Vulcan and Venus to come with me. I already have Bobby who offered, but I still need someone from Venus," Thalia paused. It seemed everyone was staring at Piper at this moment. "You interested?"

"To go on the quest?" Piper blinked. "Like a real adventure of the sort?"

Thalia nodded. "Yeah, it's my first time too."

That statement only encouraged Piper even more. "Sure, I'll do it."

Thalia grinned just as she did with Bobby. The next thing she did surprised pretty much everyone. She scooted to the side and patted the empty seat. "Sit down with us."

Intensified stares burned at the back of Piper's head. She slowly stared at the seat as her eyes trailed back to Thalia's in confusion. Other legion members couldn't sit at other tables belonging to legions not their own. Surely, this was a joke.

"We're talking about the quest right now, and since you're going, you'll need to hear this," Thalia explained.

So that was the reason. Well, it was better than none, Piper guessed.

She sat down, still mindful of the stares.

Thalia took a piece of her bread roll and placed in her mouth. She then straightened up as if suddenly remembering something important. "Lupa did say something else. I think she said to 'follow the monsters'."

"Does she mean Kampê?" Kenneth put in.

"No," Jason shook his head. "I'm sure she meant the venti we encountered at the Grand Canyon. If you can track the storm spirits, then you can track the one who's controlling them, and that could lead you to Juno's prison."

"How would that lead to Juno?" Bobby asked with high scrutiny.

"It's what Lupa said." At Thalia's dark look, Jason sighed. "I know you hate Lupa, but she wouldn't sabotage your quest like that. You have to trust her."

Thalia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Okay, where do I find these venti?"

"Just ask a wind god," Reyna answered as though it that easy and obvious.

"Yes, Reyna," Thalia couldn't help but throw back sardonically. "Because I know so _many_ wind gods."

The blonde girl of Minerva shook her head in exasperation. "Aeolus is the master of all winds, but he's hard to find. It's hard to find him unless he wants to be found. Personally, I'd go for one of the four seasonal gods that work for him. The nearest one around here has got to be Aquilon, the North Wind. He's settled in one of the old northern settlements."

"So, New York?"

"Farther."

"How about Maine?" Thalia tried.

"Even farther than that."

"How far north do I need to go?" Thalia asked with a hint of annoyance. "Freaking Canada?"

Reyna smiled. "Quebec to be more exact. I hope you speak French."

"I was just kidding…" Thalia frowned. "Canada? Really?"

She was supposed to find the North Wind, find the storm spirits, find who they work for and where the hell Juno was so that she free the Queen of the gods. And most teenagers worried about who they were going to take to prom. Lupa had also given her a time limit. How could she possibly do this in _five_ days?

Piper nudged Thalia's side with her elbow. "I can speak French."

Thalia perked up. "You can?"

"_Oui." _

The very next day, the three demigods destined for the quest woke up early at dawn when everyone else was readily asleep in their snug beds. Their bags were packed with necessities: herbal medicines and salves, a couple of rations, clothing that could be worn maybe twice in the duration of the quest, a magical tool belt (for Bobby) and their weapons.

Jason would definitely be furious at her for leaving without saying good-bye, but Thalia wanted it that way.

"You're a charmspeaker and you can speak French," Thalia listed out as they stood outside the stables that were east of the training grounds. "You're already better than most children of Venus."

Piper flushed, very pleased. "Thank you."

At that moment, Bobby came out from within the stables, holding the reins of two pegasi. Thalia couldn't describe them because the creatures were too beautiful to be put in words. They were magnificent beings, not stupid animals that sometimes tended to smell like utter shit. They both glistened in the morning sun. There was a chocolate-colored male, and a dark, black one that was also a male.

"Lupa only lets us use them for emergencies," Bobby said, eyes trained solely on the pegasi. "But they're beautiful, aren't they?"

"Hell, yeah." Thalia wouldn't dare disagree. She reached out and petted the black one, the one nearest to her. She smiled when it neighed. "I call this one." She found it surprising how easily she straddled the Pegasus. On top of the Pegasus, she unclasped the reins, which actually made him neigh again in contentment.

As Bobby straddled the chocolate-colored one and released the Pegasus from his reins, Piper edged towards Thalia and the black Pegasus. Bobby was a nice, good-looking guy, don't get her wrong, but she didn't want it to be awkward the entire trip. She barely knew the boy and she didn't want to hug him from behind because she didn't have a flying horse of her own. Her hands winded behind her back nervously.

Thalia sensed her discomfort and tilted her head. "You can ride with me, Piper."

Piper's relieved look was an answer enough.

Considering it was barely dawn, it was ridiculously cold that morning. It was so cold that Thalia had been distracted from flying until she was prodded into reaching into the bag that Jason had packed for her and dug around for a scarf. She would give him a huge bear hug later as she wound the scarf around her neck, pulling it up so that it also covered her nose.

They steered their pegasi into the sky, watching as San Francisco became nothing but an obscuration. They crossed into the border of Oregon and flew around the misty clouds that dispersed whenever they hit the airy substances directly.

"Won't the mortals see us?" Piper didn't want to be a party-pooper or anything, but she held a reasonable question.

Bobby quickly shook his head. "The Mist keeps mortals from seeing all magical things. If they see us, they'll think we're small planes or something."

By mid-afternoon, they had crossed something that was unrecognizable to Thalia. It looked to be a large city that sat on a cliff that overlooked the river. The plains around it were dusted with light snow, and she could see the white snow-capped valley points from her advantage in the sky. Buildings crowded together in high walls that resembled the architecture of the medieval age, and at the very center, there was an actual castle that consisted of massive red brick walls, a tall, square tower that Thalia could imagine Rapunzel living in, and a peaked, gabled roof that color of deep-rooted grass.

"Quebec City," Piper confirmed with a sense of awe in her voice. "One of the oldest cities in North America."

Thalia smiled. Her voice was muffled from behind the scarf. "It's red and green—kinda reminds me of Christmas."

"That's not a real castle, is it?" Bobby asked.

The daughter of Jupiter nudged her Pegasus further down to see the castle. "Hmm, it looks like a…hotel."

Bobby snorted. "You're lying."

"No," Thalia defended. "There are actual doormen at the doors, and valets running around. There's bellhops taking peoples bags into the hotel, and I think I see limousines down there."

Piper cocked her head. "The North Wind is staying at a hotel?"

"You expect him to live in some sort of ancient region?" Thalia replied.

It _was_ the twenty-first century.

"Guys, look," Bobby warned, inclining his head forward.

There were two figures that had large, angel wings sprouting from their backs. There was a drawback from their angelic wings. Instead of the usual white, they were an odd purple. Their faces were similar, indicating that they might have been brothers, but they certainly weren't identical.

One was the size of an ox, dressed in what seemed like sportswear: hockey jersey, black cleats, and sweats. Thalia might have mistaken him for a real ox dressed comically in human clothing, if it hadn't been for the fact that there weren't any horns on this guy's head. The other one looked like a rock star wannabe with the gelled, mullet-styled hair, the leather clothing that was entirely too tight on the guy, and acne that had unfortunately decorated his face. The two beings were very strange, but the bared teeth from their mouths weren't to be crossed. Lucky the clouds still covered their forms lest the two might have seen the demigods.

Bobby nudged his Pegasus, flying in closer to Thalia. "See there?" he pointed at the green gabled roof that was slanted on the top. "That's how you get in. Alright, I'll distract them while you get in."

"We can't—"

"I'm not needed for this part, trust me," Bobby reassured with a steady grin. "You're needed, obviously because you're the main player of this quest, and you'll need Piper because of her French."

There really wasn't any point in arguing because they were heading closer and closer to the angel guys. "Fine, but don't get caught, okay? That's an order from your consul."

Bobby smiled widely. "Yes, ma'am." He nudged his Pegasus again, flying past them, daring through the grey crowds and flying horizontally across, right in front of the angels. That, of course, had caught their attention.

As soon as the preoccupied angels flew after Bobby, Thalia leaned forward and guided her Pegasus vertically downwards, flying so quickly that everything else became a hazy blur past her eyes. She didn't slow down as she neared the gabled peak, and she wasn't aware of Piper's tight grip around her waist. The section of the roof slowly slid open, revealing an entrance that the Pegasus gladly flew in, narrowly missing the jagged icicles that line the sharp entrance.

They landed in what looked like a penthouse suite, only it was ten times colder in here and it was outside. The entry hall had high vaulted ceilings, with rich curtains that draped from the heightened edges all the way to the floor. Arched windows were covered behind the velvet curtains, and a massive staircase led to a foyer of a grand hall. More corridors branched off to the left and right, resembling like real branches that twined out from the bark of a tree, and despite the beauty of the suite, it was the ice of the room that made the place nonconforming.

"I know why Bobby didn't want to go in here," Thalia mused, pulling her scarf even closer to herself, making her voice sound even more muffled than before. "He's a child of Vulcan, which could also indicate fire. Ice and fire don't mix well."

"This place would be nice," Piper commented, eyes darting around the place, "if it wasn't so cold."

"Hello."

Both girls whirled around to see a girl in a white dress that was light enough to be made of snow. If Thalia thought her own face was pale, then this girl's face was super, super, _super_ pale. She had a mane of black hair, and her eyes were the color or coffee, or in other words, brown. There was no expression. No smile. No friendliness.

She was an exact look-alike of Gwendolyn.

Piper leaned in closer to Thalia. "She looks like…"

"I know," Thalia said, nodding in agreement.

"My father will want to see the one called Thalia," the girl whispered, her airy voice loud.

Thalia stared at her with distrust. How did the girl know her name? "Is your father Aquilon?"

The girl's cold lips twisted in amusement, but she answered, "Yes, King Aquilon is my father."

They had no choice but to follow the ice princess—or what they assumed she was— up the stairs that may have been literally made of ice. The girl would turn around to gaze directly into Thalia's eyes, no warmth in her hues whatsoever, and she would smile secretly. Every time the girl looked, Thalia would feel more and more mentally harassed. Occasionally, in response to the girl's smiles, Piper would give her a confused look, but Thalia had no answer to it.

A hallway decked with frosty tapestries was at least twenty degrees colder than the other room. The winds flew back and forth, prompting Thalia to use her powers to slow down the winds a fraction. Luckily, the girl didn't notice. At the end of it, the girl had led them to a pair of oaken doors where a map of the world was carved into it. At each corner was a man's bearded face, blowing ice and snow to every corner of the world.

"This is the throne room," the girl turned around, her brown eyes glowing. "I will translate for you and I will try to encourage him to hear your out. My father hasn't been kind to visitors lately and I hope he will spare you," her icy finger reached out and touched Thalia's cheek. "I do love heroes."

"Eh…" Thalia maneuvered from her cold hand awkwardly. She quickly asked, "What's your name?"

"I am Chione, goddess of snow."

"Pretty name," Thalia found herself replying back.

Chione smiled again, much wider this time. The oaken doors blew open, making no sound at all as the wind carried them through the frames. A cold, blue light spilled out from the room. "Hopefully, you will survive from this."

How…encouraging.

The two girls and the goddess walked through the open doors. The mist parted to reveal a man on an ice throne. He was a tall, thin person wearing a Roman toga that was lined with purple silk. His head was crowned with a frosty laurel wreath, with a gladius hanging from his side. At least there was more warmth in his eyes than in his daughter's.

"_Bienvenu,"_ the king said with a nod of his head. "_Je suis Aquilon le Roi. Et vous?_

Chione was about to step up and speak, but at this point, Thalia's elbow landed on Piper side, causing the younger girl to jump forward instead. She fixed herself from her stumbled, caused by Thalia, and curtsied. _"Votre Majesté. Je suis Piper Mclean. Et c'est Thalia, fille de Jupiter." _

The king smiled, evidently pleased that Piper could speak his tongue. _"Vous parlez français? Très bien!"_

He laughed and clapped his hands, delighted with Piper's fluent French. He then turned a curious eye towards Thalia, as if noticing her for the first time since she's stepped into the room.

Thalia curtsied. Out of respect, she pulled her scarf down to show the rest of her face. "Your Majesty, I'm Thalia Grace. Thank you for allowing us into your presence.

Aquilon smiled down upon her before saying something else in French, to which Piper visibly turned as pale as the snow.

"Did I say something wrong?" Thalia murmured to her.

Piper shook her head. "No, he says—he says he wants to kills us."

Neither noticed Chione's grin.

"Kill us?" Thalia repeated, turning to the smiling king. "Why?"

"Because my lord Aeolus has commanded it," the king spoke with in heavily accented English, stepping down from his icicle-like throne. "Of course, my master would not expect me to kill the daughter of the god of the sky without hearing you out first."

"Aeolus wants us dead?"

Aquilon merely waved his hand, and a flat screen TV spearing in the air. Images of a battle flickered across the surface, portraying a giant wrapped in dark storm clouds, waddling across everything, as whirling, golden sparks pounded the monster until it dropped into the river nearby, erupting into a massive whirlpool which sucked the giant in, omitting gray smoke as it was swallowed by the waves.

In the midst of the great visuals, Aquilon told them how Aeolus didn't carry a fondness for demigods, and how it was Aeolus' job to track down all the storm spirits and imprison him in the fortress. With the last war and the eruption of Typhon had unleashed a new set of storm spirits. Of course, Thalia would understand why Aeolus would be so hassled by the demigods.

"As you can see," Aquilon waved his hand around the ice statues in the room, "here are the demigods that were before you."

Chione stepped from behind Thalia, and once again trailed a finger across Thalia's cheek. This time, that icy finger stroked the column of her neck. "My father gives me such lovely presents," she whispered, her words as bare as the cold wind.

Thalia tried the thing she did with Gwendolyn a few days earlier, waiting as her skin cackled with electricity. It sparked out of her skin, causing a loud _pop_ to echo in the room. Chione had flown backwards, a great distance away from Thalia, and that was how she wanted it.

Instantly, a blizzard formed from the snow of the room. "How _dare_ you!" she seethed, and it was possible at such a length, that her brown eyes might have turned black.

"No," Thalia sent a sharp look towards the snow goddess. "We're on a quest to save Juno herself, and unless you want the Queen of gods busting your doors down, you are not going to kill us."

"Interesting," King Aquilon's eyes had twinkled, and Thalia hoped he wasn't furious at her for speaking to his daughter like that. "Do go on. An offspring of Jupiter, favored by Juno? Well, well."

Thalia bit her lip. "My king," she started off firmly, "these storm spirits attacked us. It happened a while ago near the Grand Canyon, and we know that they may be working for some dangerous. If we find them, we might be able to find Juno. And if I find her, she could give me my memory back."

The king stroked his chin. "I know of these storm spirits of which you speak of. The one who controls these winds however…it would be quite suicidal to oppose her."

"Juno's in trouble, my king," Piper finally unfroze from her earlier shock. "In four days, something's going to happen to her, and we can't allow that to happen. Neither can we allow the giant that will arise."

"Yes," the king agreed slowly. "Many things—what is that in your pocket, demigod?" At the look of confusion, he gestured to Thalia. "You, daughter of Jupiter. I ask again, what is that in your pocket?"

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows. "There's nothing—"

"Check again," demanded Aquilon. _"Dépêchez-vous."_

"He said to hurry up," Piper said.

Thalia gaped at him for a moment before she looked down at the pocket of her jeans. Where she had expected nothing, her blue eyes widened at what was there. Why did random things appear in her pocket? She pulled out a string necklace, with two different colored beads attached to it. One bead was decorated to resemble a labyrinth of some sort, and the other bead was what looked like the Empire State Building of New York with intricate names in tiny Greek letters—names she could understand.

Aquilon then laughed, causing the icicles in the room to shake. His form began to flicker, where he transformed into a sturdily built man with a white suit that was woven from snow, with dark purple wings spread out to either side. He had long hair and shaggy beard that was encrusted with tiny ice. His eyes were extremely whitened with frost.

"Boreas," she immediately said, and where she had gotten that name, she had no idea.

The god leaned down. "You recognize me better in this form, but yet you come from the Roman camp? And Juno sent you there…oh! She plays a dangerous game…no wonder Olympus is closed."

Piper shook Thalia's arm. "Why did he change into an angel with a suit? What's going on?"

"It's his Greek form," Thalia supplied. "As for what's going on—I honestly have no clue."

"Well, this changes everything!" Boreas laughed once more. "There is no reason to kill you now, my dears. It is not for me to interfere with Juno's plan. No wonder she took your memory," he gazed thoughtfully at Thalia. "Ah, I will let you go on this quest. You will find your storm spirits in the windy city of course."

"Chicago," Thalia replied knowingly.

"Father!" Chione, or as Thalia recognized, Khione, screeched.

Her father ignored her. "If you can capture the winds, you may be able to gain safe entrance to the court of Aeolus. If by some miracle you succeed, be sure to tell him you captured the winds on my orders."

"Of course," Thalia smiled. "So Chicago is where we'll find the one controlling the winds? Is that person the one who trapped Juno?"

"Those are two very different questions, daughter of Zeus."

Hadn't he called her daughter of Jupiter beforehand?

Boreas continued. "The one who controls the winds would be found in Chicago. But _she_ is only a servant. If you succeed against her and take the winds, you may go to Aeolus. Only he has knowledge of all the winds on the earth. All secrets come to his fortress eventually. If anyone can tell you where Juno is imprisoned, it is Aeolus."

"Father, you can't simply let them—"Khione started in protest.

"I will do what I please," came her father's hard voice.

Father and daughter passed a silent look. Khione's eyes flashed with white anger, but she clenched her teeth. Thalia was sure she could hear the princess' grinding of teeth from where she stood. "As you wish, Father."

Boreas relaxed against his throne, waving his hand. "Now go before I change my mind."

Thalia and Piper didn't need to be told twice.

However, as they hastily made their way out of the icy throne room, Thalia couldn't help but stare at her Greek beaded necklace and why it had appeared in her pocket at that time.


	16. Hostes Somnia

**Chapter Sixteen: Hostes Somnia**_  
>Dreams of the Enemy<em>

Silena Beauregard. Ethan Nakamura. Zoë Nightshade. Charles Beckendorf. Bianca di Angelo. Luke Castellan…

Again in that wrenching whiplash of memory, her gut clenched tightly at the seemingly familiar names that send red, blaring signals that she should have remembered these people. These names were the few of the many Greek names that were inscribed on the bead with the Empire State Building. Maybe these were names of people who had fallen during some battle of sort. Translating these names to English was way easier than translating them from Latin. It was as though Greek had been her native tongue all this time.

As for the other bead, the one with the maze-type thing or a labyrinth—that she had no clue what it signified. In fact, she didn't know what both of the beads meant. She had been staring at them with nothing in mind, wondering if the beads were there just to look pretty.

"_Thalia!" _

She registered Piper's near scream with a jolt before looking down, noticing that she had been absentmindedly guiding the Pegasus in a downward spiral. She quickly stuffed the necklace in her pocket before giving a sharp nudge to the Pegasus' side, stopping their travel from hitting the ground. The flying horse gave an unsatisfied neigh to which Thalia instantly petted his neck and murmured an apology.

"Sorry," she said out loud for Piper to hear.

"Hey! You okay?" Bobby shouted from a distant away, apparently having noticed the fall.

"We're okay!"

Yesterday, she and Piper had rushed out of the frozen penthouse suite, not wanting to be in there for another minute unless they wanted to be frozen to death. The tension left them once they were in the sky and united with Bobby, having found out that he had spent his time dodging and fooling the flying angel guys way too easily. Before they even knew it, the night had passed into another day, to which none of them got to rest. The sun was staring to rise, causing the sky to clash with the blinding colors of yellow, orange, red, and pink. The western horizon stretched out beneath them.

So starts the second day of their lovely adventure.

At the corner of her eyes, Thalia noticed something dark and fast spiraling around from underneath them. She tilted her head, aligning it with the Pegasus' side as she took a closer look. It was whizzing past tall skyscrapers, its smoky figure mixing it with some of the already polluted air.

"Did you guys see that?" she asked them.

Piper squinted down to where Thalia's gaze was. "See what?"

"That storm spirit." At the two looks she received from Bobby and Piper, telling her that they weren't quite comprehending, she straightened up again. "I saw it float around down there. Just follow my lead."

She flew down, hoping that the Mist was strong enough to confuse the mortal people that the strange kids on flying horses were nothing more than helicopters that were too close to the ground. But the sun was just starting to set, so mortals shouldn't be up around at this time. She had to keep up with the ventus because, well, they literally moved like the wind. It wasn't as though she could use her powers to pull the thing back.

The Roman demigods followed the storm spirit from above, watching as the nearly translucent wisp of air weaved through the streets, seldom knocking over early-waking pedestrians, making discarded grocery bags fly, blowing flyers from the walls. There was no purpose for its destination as it moved in random zigzags and patterns around the tight streets. Then _another_ ventus swirled out of nowhere, colliding with the first one in one of the most chaotic dances ever, wind shooting everywhere.

"Great," Piper muttered. "There's two of them."

"It _is_ the windy city," Bobby pointed out. "Chicago would be a good place for them to blend in."

There weren't just two, but dozens of storms spirits piling around one park in particular. At the center of the park was a wide public fountain, with two five-story monoliths that rose from each end of the long granite pool. The monoliths were definitely high tech, having been built out of expensive video screens, flashing images of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.

When the screens suddenly went dark, the venti swirled together, forming one dark cloud that danced around the fountain, oblivious to anyone else, considering the fact that no one else was at the park. Kicking at the water to make it splash near the ends, the funnel cloud moved towards the center as a bumbling, puffing whole. Clutters of wind popped open the drain cover, sucking in the wind cloud slowly until it disappeared entirely through the drain.

"They just…went down a drain," Piper spoke as if she couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe most things these days, ever since she was made known to her knowledge that her parent was a goddess.

"Follow them?" Bobby suggested.

"Oh, yeah, because entering a sewer is completely normal," Thalia couldn't help but mutter sardonically. Nevertheless, she steered her Pegasus down to the park called Grant Park. She petted the horse. "Alright, you and your buddy fly wherever you want. Just make sure to be near if we need you guys, 'kay?"

The pegasi neighed in what seemed like agreement. They nudged their riders respectfully before spreading their large wings and launching back into the sky.

In her lead, they stepped towards the center of the Crown fountain. Well, no spirits tried to stop them, and the giant monitor walls stayed dark. The drain was big enough for one person to fit through, and there was even a ladder that led down to the abyss of darkness.

Thalia went first, stepping down upon the ladder that was screwed against the wall. She mentally braced herself for the infamous sewer smells. Bobby and Piper watched cautiously as the tip of Thalia's head disappeared down the hole. It was only a couple of minutes before they heard her light stomp on what was heard as a puddle of water. It was eerily quiet considering the emptiness of the park.

"How is it down there?" Bobby asked, bending his head down the hole. He couldn't see anything.

"Are all sewers this sanitary?" came an answer that echoed through the hollow walls.

Piper grinned at the odd answer. "I think she's saying its okay." She went in next down the ladder, with Bobby not too far behind her. Warm air hit her face as she lowered herself. She grimaced when she touched the water, hoping that it was pure water and not…something else.

Thalia didn't hide a yawn that came from her. "Guys, I'm tired."

"Of course you would," Bobby quipped in good-naturedly. "We didn't get any sleep."

"I have a really good proposal," Thalia replied in what was an attempt to sound chipper. "I think you guys will like it. Why don't we _sleep_? Yeah, good idea? Just for an hour or two." _Or four or five. _

"We still have four more days including today…" Piper trailed off, and she didn't realize how tired she was until that moment when Thalia pointed out her own exhaustion. "Two hours wouldn't hurt."

Bobby rubbed his eyes slightly before blinking. "I agree."

Thalia didn't need to hear anymore. She immediately found a dark corner of the sewer and planted herself on it before knocking out completely.

* * *

><p>Piper's scream was what woke them up.<p>

At the abrupt scream, Thalia shot up before groaning, her eyes barely an inch awake. She felt as though she only got five minutes of sleep. It wasn't the best nap, but at least it was better than getting no rest at all. Although, when she saw Piper struggling in her sleep, the notion snapped Thalia fully to wake.

Thalia quickly crawled over to where the daughter of Venus was moving, watching as the girl's eyes were shut tightly, as if the nightmare was gnawing at her. She touched Piper's shoulder, trying to wake her up, but that proved to be a very bad move. As if sensing the hand, Piper's fist shot forward, almost giving a rough blow to Thalia's cheek, as she fought to escape her attacker.

"Piper," Thalia gritted though her teeth, shoving Piper's hands away as they still tried to hit her. "Piper!"

That seemed to wake her up. In a matter of seconds, kaleidoscopic eyes opened widely, darting everywhere as they refocused on its surroundings. When Piper saw that it had been Thalia above her, she relaxed, but she couldn't help but feel sheepish. Thalia must have witnessed her thrashing about. And judging by someone shifting to her right, it meant that Bobby had seen the whole thing also.

How embarrassing.

"Are you okay?" Thalia asked, concern filtering her electric blue orbs.

Piper nodded, swallowing dryly at the thick lump that formed in her throat. She couldn't say anything. She couldn't tell them now, could she?

"Here," Bobby told them, passing out cheese and avocado sandwiches.

Thalia took one wordlessly and stared at the Vulcan boy. "When did you make this?"

"I woke up before the both of you and I realized we haven't had anything to eat yet."

Thalia grinned. "Thanks, Bobby," she said as she bit into the sandwich. At her pleased look of the combination of bread, cheese, and avocado, it was safe to say that she was content. She turned to Piper, chewing. "So you wanna tell us about it?"

Piper couldn't hold back her heavy sigh. They had to know sometime, especially Thalia, considering the girl might be connected to it because she was related to the prophecy and all.

She fingered the sandwich gently. "Three nights before I went on that Grand Canyon trip, I had a dream vision—a giant named Enceladus, telling me that my father had been taken hostage. He told me I had to cooperate, or my dad would killed."

Thalia blinked. "Did you say Enchiladas?"

"Enceladus," Bobby repeated, chuckling. "He's a giant."

Piper continued on. "I—I tried to reach my dad, but all I got was his personal assistant telling me not to worry. To get my dad back, I had to sabotage this quest. Then, just now, Enceladus sent me another warning: he wanted the two of you dead. He wants me to lead you to a mountain. It's in the Bay Area for sure, and I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the summit. I have to be there by noon tomorrow for the exchange."

Impending silence met her ears. This was why she accepted the quest so easily. Piper expected Bobby's disgust for a traitor like her, and she expected the untamable anger that Thalia possessed when trifled. But she didn't see any of it.

Instead, Bobby looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Piper."

"No kidding," Thalia murmured as she nodded her head, concern still shining clear in her eyes. "You've been carrying that all this time?"

"But—I—" Piper stammered. "Aren't you mad? I was ordered to kill you guys!"

"Yeah, but you also saved me," Thalia pointed out. "Back at Aquilon's palace, if it wasn't for you speaking French, we would have been killed right away. And plus, your father's been held as a hostage. You had no choice. We could save your dad."

"We have to save Juno, don't we? We don't have a choice, or the great evil gets unleashed," Piper said in a miserable manner.

Thalia scoffed loudly. "It's not like I'm in a grand hurry to save her. The only reason I agreed to save her is to get my memories back, but I have a feeling she won't give them to me that easily. We'll save your dad, and then go for Juno. So if we need to be in the Bay Area by noon tomorrow—" she paused, eyes widening. "Aw, man! That means we have to go back to San Francisco again! That's where we _started_!"

Due to the sudden change of plans, the information Aquilon had given them was now useless. The journey to Canada had been pointless. They would have to leave Chicago and go back to square one, which could take a day, depending on how fast their pegasi were willing to fly.

"Hey, what time is it?" she asked as she finished her sandwich.

Bobby checked his watch. "Seven o'clock."

So they slept for an hour. That wasn't bad.

"At night."

Thalia let her jaw drop. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"I'm not kidding," Bobby said as Thalia's hand launched out like lightning and grabbed a hold of the boy's wrist. She pulled his hand closer to inspect. Sure enough, it was seven, and the p.m. sign was on instead of a.m. They had slept for _thirteen _hours? That wasn't even normal. Especially if they were on a quest on a tight schedule.

Meaning that they had at least seventeen hours to get back to San Francisco.

The gods hated them.

"So what was the point in going in this sewer?" Bobby questioned, eyebrows knitting together.

Thalia shrugged sluggishly. "There's no point now."

Piper felt immediately ashamed. "I'm really sorry about everything. I should have told you guys—"

"Don't worry about it," Bobby smiled at her, reassuring that everything was going to be okay.

"What if it's a trap?" Piper asked. "For all you guys know, I could be leading you guys to your deaths."

"Wasn't that your plan originally?" Thalia grinned, raising an eyebrow. "And if you are leading us to a trap, we'll be prepared for it…I think. I mean, that what's we're trained for. Right, Bobby?"

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Sure."

Piper felt like laughing and crying at the same time.

"Shit," Bobby then muttered. "Did you guys hear that?"

For a second, the three of them remained silent. Then they heard it: howls piercing the night.

Wolves.

Thalia felt like laughing in that odd, crazy manner like she had with Jason a couple of days ago. Now, why were there wolves in Chicago? That was complete sarcasm, by the way.

"Think of this as Lupa's assessment all over again," Thalia grumbled to them lowly as she climbed up the steps of the ladder. "The only difference is that they are probably many wolves out there to fight us, instead of one."

"Real reassuring, consul," Bobby muttered back.

Outside on top of the seven-fifteen p.m. moon, Grant Park was empty except for these black beasts that piled around the center of the park. They were bigger than Great Danes, that was for sure. Their fangs gleamed under the moonlight like sparkling jewels, their glowing red eyes disturbingly barbaric with hunger. The wolf in front was almost as tall as their pegasi, his mouth stained with blood as though he had already made a fresh kill. Now, the question was whether that kill had been an animal or a Chicago resident.

As Thalia stepped up, the alpha smirked vulgarly. _Hello, pretty one._

That was what Dakota said to her when she had first met the russet-colored wolf. Hearing those words from a different wolf made her feel uncomfortable. So, naturally, Thalia assumed that the greeting was directed at Bobby.

She had learned Latin pretty fast, thanks to Jason, Hazel, and the others. _"Hello. I am Thalia, daughter of Jupiter. This is Bobby, son of Vulcan, and Piper, daughter of Venus." _

_Funny, how that is. Your father is a Roman, but you carry a Greek name._

"_It's a long story." _

_Hm. I'm afraid we have no time for that._

The "We wolves are going to eat you" was implied.

Piper wished she understood the Latin language. Judging by the way Bobby's eyes were narrowed dangerously at the wolves, he too, understood the conversation. She felt helpless as she unsheathed her dagger.

The alpha wolf was curling his lip at Thalia's precise words. The fur was standing up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance in an attack, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Snapped, as in literally, as the alpha wolf took a morbid bite at the smaller wolf's ear. All of the wolves backed into the darkness that surrounded the park.

"What did you say, Thalia?" Piper wondered to the other girl.

Thalia's blue gaze never left the darkness. "It doesn't matter. It wasn't enough."

The wolves came back, but they didn't attack. They waited in a rough semicircle just outside the area of the fountain, blocking any exit for the demigods. Then, they saw the silhouette of a man coming through, walking though the midst of the wolf pack.

As the wolves parted, the man stepped into clearer view. His hair was greasy and ragged, and his head was topped with what looked like a crown of finger bones. His robes were a tattered fur consisting of rabbits, raccoons, deer, and even wolves. They fur wasn't very fresh, as far as any of them could tell. His thin, pale skin was pulled tightly over his skill, causing a horrific image, and his teeth were sharpened like fangs. His eyes glowed a bloody red like the rest of the wolves, fixed on the demigods with repugnance.

The wolf man studied their little group. "A child of Venus and a child of Vulcan," he stared at Bobby and Piper. "How ironic," he noted, his eyes passing over towards Thalia. "And you—you I cannot tell. Greek or Roman? You've been mixed."

Thalia bit back the urge to roll her eyes. _Tell me about it._ "Lycaon, king of wolves."

The wolves snarled. Lycaon smiled eagerly. "Good, child of Jupiter. My pack is hungry."

"Leave," Thalia ordered. "There's no food for you here. Unless you like cheese and avocado sandwiches."

"If I had my way," Lycaon started with regret, "I would kill you first, daughter of Jupiter. Your father made me what I am, for I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Jupiter slewed them—"

"_What_ is your point?" Thalia cut in irritably.

Lycaon bared his fangs. He looked about ready to kill Thalia right at that moment. "Since this one," he wagged his claws at Piper, "has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my compatriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself. She's a great admirer of yours. You've made quite the impression on her."

Piper snapped at that. No one was going to die because of her mistake. "You're going to leave now," she commanded, trying to put power into the words, "before we destroy you."

"A brave try, girl," Lycaon's red eyes were laughing at her attempt. "I admire that. Perhaps, I'll make yours a rather quick end. Only the daughter of Jupiter is needed alive. The rest of you, I'm afraid, are dinner." He then chuckled as he looked at their weapons. "Gold, bronze, steel—none of these are any good against my wolves."

"Silver," Piper hissed at Bobby. "Wolves are hurt by silver."

"We don't have any silver," Bobby replied back, looking grimmer by the second.

Lycaon sniffed the air before smiling wickedly. "I can smell your fear, little demigods. Pray to whatever gods you wish. Jupiter did not grant me mercy, and you shall have none from me."

Rather than praying, Thalia tilted her head to the side. Would electricity work?

Well, they weren't going to kill her, but she had to find a way to protect both Bobby and Piper. As the wolves pounced to attack, Thalia thought quick and rubbed her hands, her skin sparkling with that familiarity of electricity. Using her sword, she directed the sparks towards the incoming wolves, trying to deter them for a couple of minutes. Some of the wolves caught the electricity, yelping and retreating back. Others kept running.

Thalia threw her sword and cursed, since her weapon wasn't going to be useful at this point. Sure, they weren't going to kill her, but she may as well die at this point, at the malignant looks the wolves were giving her. But where did Lycaon go?

Her blue eyes flittered across the park, finding the terrible wolf king. To her horror, Lycaon was creeping behind Piper, without the other girl's notice. He was near the fountain where Piper stood with her dagger raised in defense, his fangs bared and his mouth opened. The picture reminded Thalia of a vampire, rather than a wolf. His eyes were focused on one point of Piper's body—her neck. He looked at her skin like she was easy dinner served on a platter.

At that point, Thalia knew what was going to happen. Not even the winds or her father could save her this time.

Running full speed, thanking the little currents of wind that only increased her stamina to run, she pushed Piper out of the way right when Lycaon's fangs were an inch away from grazing the other girl's neck. Piper fell to the ground, oblivious to the situation as she heard a sickening crack that made her heart drop.

Her eyes trailed to where she had stood before. She hadn't realized that Lycaon had been standing there the entire time. The wolf king's large teeth were planted into Thalia's pale neck, his fangs lodged through her skin, through the blood, through the veins, through the _bone_. Piper gasped to see how Thalia's head lolled around as if her neck wasn't strong enough to hold it in place anymore. What would haunt her was the fact that Thalia was staring right at her, her blue eyes unblinking and empty.

With a roar, Lycaon unlatched his teeth from the girl's neck, sensing that this was not the daughter of Venus. Thalia's body was thrown into the fountain, fitting into the water as the blood flowed like a small puddle around her. The wolf king seemed to realize his mistake as he stared silently at Thalia's body. How was he supposed to take her to his mistress now?

Piper crawled over to the edge of the fountain as she turned Thalia's head around in the water. Those cold, lifeless eyes pierced her like a sword, and she fought back tears. She placed her two fingers on the girl's neck, even at the bloody part that dared taint her porcelain skin—to find _any_ pulse on her. This wasn't her fate. Those women who spun the strings of life couldn't cut Thalia's life this short. Her digits were desperate to find any sign of life.

She found none.

Thalia was dead.

The _hero_ of this quest was dead.

Piper felt the tears stroll down her cheeks. Of course this was all her fault. On the second day of the quest, nearing the third—their hero was dead. Jason was going to hate her, as was the rest of the First Legion. Maybe even the rest of camp. She had killed their consul.

What she hadn't noticed was that the water was dragging Thalia's body away from her. Her body was floating down a different drain on the other side of the fountain, and before Piper could snatch back the body in her possession, Thalia's body dropped into the drain, and the hole had snapped shut from Piper's arms. With a cry of frustration and a mix of her tears, Piper jumped into the fountain and banged loudly on the hole, trying to pry it open, but no success.

A pair of arms dragged her from the fountain, but she struggled against Bobby to get back in the water to open that stupid damn train.

Meanwhile, Lycaon too, seemed too shocked to do anything. He even forgot that he was supposed to kill that daughter of Venus. In his surprise at this turn of events, he didn't notice the ripping sounds the cut through the wind. Shafts of silver arrows rained down upon Grant Park, striking the wolves, and killing them as they writhed on the spot and melted into a puddle of shadow. No wonder that child of Vulcan was still alive.

The _hunters_ were here.

The wolf king disappeared in the night, his red eyes glowing as he left his wolves.

While Piper still cried onto Bobby, the boy looked up to see a troop of girls he's never seen before. They wore white and gray camouflage, all carrying bows and quivers of glowing silver arrows on their backs. One girl, the leader he supposed, made her way towards them. A silver tiara was placed along her brow.

As Bobby held onto Piper, he blinked back his own tears. He wondered how the hell they were supposed to finish the quest without Thalia.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Yeah, I killed Thalia...please don't flame me. Her death is all a part of my master plan for her. This was the little twist I was talking about. There's going to be _another_ little twist in the next chapter. If you want to know sooner, please review. I am this close to getting 100, which is an ultimate goal of mine as a fanfiction writer, so please, send me back some feedback :)


	17. Heros Perdita

**Chapter Seventeen: Heros Perdita**_  
>The Lost Hero<em>

_Aw, shit. _

She absolutely swore she wasn't supposed to end up like this. Dying was pretty much the last thing on her to-do list and it wasn't as if she had planned the whole freaking thing. Try being alive for one single minute and dead the next. Thalia was no less traumatized as she watched her body flow down the drain. She stared as those stupid venti opened it with shared snickers, the windy spirits snapping the drain shut once Piper threw her body down upon it in an attempt to open it.

Damn, she really screwed up this time. Who dies on their quest? On the _second_ day?

Thalia couldn't watch as Piper cried. It was something to do with girls crying that made her cringe. If a girl went crying to her, she wouldn't know what to do, other than stand around and looking awkward. She, or rather, her _spirit_—insert flinch— floated to where Bobby was trying his best to comfort a distressed Piper. Waving her hand as an experiment, she placed a consoling hand on the top of Piper's head, but that hand just went right through.

Jason was going to be pissed as hell. After all, Thalia would be if Jason was in her place and he was in hers. It sucked for her because she had just found her younger brother. Now they were separated. Again.

Well, the wolves were gone, which was a good thing. All Thalia had seen since her soul or whatever became detached from her body were silver arrows cleanly piercing the wolves, turning them into liquefied shadow. She saw the cowardly Lycaon flee into the darkness, her blue eyes narrowed at his retreating back. However, those eyes widened immediately at the handful of girls that had suddenly appeared around the park, clad in clothing of white, silver, and gray. Each girl was visibly equipped with a bow and a quiver of pointed arrows.

No doubt in her mind that these girls were the Hunters of Artemis. A sense of familiarity dawned on her as they espied the park, looking for any remaining wolves. A tall girl, with very light brown hair, walked towards Bobby and Piper. A silver tiara adorned her head, her skin glowing healthily of that of an immortal. The girl was the lieutenant. Thalia realized that if she had accepted Artemis' offer in that vision she had, she would have been in this very girl's place.

The unnamed lieutenant tilted her head down to look at the pair. "Are you alright?" she asked, the question more directed at Piper than Bobby. The girl sniffed distastefully at the sight of Bobby. Of course, the whole 'swearing-off-boys' thing was clearly in effect.

"Fine." Whoa, that did not sound like Piper's voice. But it did indeed come from the child of Venus. Even Bobby looked down at Piper in bewilderment.

"Phoebe," the light-brown haired girl offered, "Lieutenant of Artemis."

Piper sat up, crawling out of Bobby's arms. "Piper," she responded in that same odd tone, slowly standing up on shaking legs. She quickly steadied herself, looking unblinkingly at Phoebe. "Thanks for helping us."

Phoebe must have noticed that Piper didn't sound thankful, but she ignored it. "We've been following Lycaon's trail for days now. Actually, I must thank you for leading him here. It appears he's been following your group."

Thalia couldn't help but roll her eyes. Even in the after-life. If only they had been told that sooner.

"You are going to leave," Piper said calmly, fixing Phoebe with a steely gaze. "You are going to turn around and you are going to continue looking for Lycaon with the rest of the Hunters. You are going to forget that we were here."

"Why are you charmspeaking her?" Thalia demanded, her form appearing right next to Piper. Naturally, the other girl didn't hear the dead girl.

A look of confusion crossed Phoebe's face. At first, Thalia thought that it didn't work. But then, Phoebe blinked before turning around, shouting orders at the rest of the Hunters to enter the dark forest where Lycaon had escaped to. Without a glance behind her back, Phoebe and the others ran into the forest, having forgotten ever meeting the Roman demigods.

"Why'd you send them away?" Bobby turned to Piper, his expression matching Thalia's bewildered one.

Piper sighed. "I didn't want to deal with them. We should get moving." Her hands fisted at her sides tightly. "If we're going to save Juno—"

"No, we're saving your dad."

"We can't—"

"Thalia would have wanted that," Bobby replied firmly. "You heard her. She said she'd rather save your dad than Juno."

The dead girl nodded in agreement. "Uh-huh."

Bobby continued, unaware that Thalia was backing him up from the supernatural realm. "Thalia's still our leading consul. We still have to obey her, dead or not. Her orders were specific in saving your dad first, and we have to follow them through."

There was silence as Bobby walked over to where Thalia had thrown her sword earlier. He sheathed it back into the holder, cradling the sword with caution as though it would break any moment.

"But how?" Piper asked, her voice cracking.

Bobby's gaze softened. "First we have to find Aeolus, but even if we do, he won't let us in unless we have some venti for him."

_Venti, _Thalia's eyebrow lifted in thought as she looked back at the drain, hoping that the venti that dropped her body down there were still around. Luckily, a few of them still were, floating almost invisibly around the fountain. Her hand shot out and swatted at Bobby, trying to get his attention, but again, that hand went through the boy's body.

She walked in front of Bobby. "Look over there," she advised, her hand swishing back and forth Bobby's face.

Bobby's eyes widened a fraction, obviously having felt something. It was small, but it was _there_. He felt a breeze gently brush against his cheek, causing him to instinctively turn his head towards the fountain. His eyes then analyzed the wind spirits that still loitered around.

Bingo.

* * *

><p>Jason wandered aimlessly around the First Legion building, donned in his sparse clothing that poorly passed as reasonable pajamas. The cold didn't bother him in the least as he paced around, his arms crossed over his chest.<p>

Something was definitely wrong.

He had been mad that Thalia had left without telling him. It would have given him some relief to know that he at least saw her when she departed. Some of his worries faded knowing that she had taken the backpack Jason had packed for her. Knowing Thalia, she would have packed little for the quest. He was worried for her, but he still could have slept on the first night she left. On the second night, this night, something bothered Jason to the point he couldn't stand lying around on his bed anymore.

Maybe she was hurt. That could only explain the strange feeling inside him. Could it be that they had that brother-sister internal bond thing he's heard about?

_What are you doing up at this hour, praetor?_

Jason jumped at the sudden voice, his face filled with alert. "Sure, Dakota, go ahead and give me a heart-attack," he said sarcastically.

Dakota raised an eyebrow. Jason was never scared that easily. _So deep in your thoughts, are you?_

"Can't sleep."

_Yeah, I miss Snow, too,_ Dakota translated his words, his ears flattening back. _It's not fun without her around._

"Snow?" Jason repeated slowly.

The russet-colored wolf sat down. _You know, Snow White like the Disney princess. Pale skin, dark hair, not to mention she's pretty hot—_

"That's my sister you're talking about."

_Your point?_

Jason didn't say anything instantly. But a second later, his face cracked into an amused grin.

* * *

><p>Thalia really wondered why her soul hadn't gone down to the underworld yet. Wasn't Hades of Pluto supposed to drag her down there? Or was she supposed to find the place herself?<p>

She had cheered—not like a cheerleader, but as best as she could— as Bobby and Piper had trapped some of the venti in this steel canister thing that Bobby had invented. But when the two remaining demigods attempted another try at opening the drain to retrieve Thalia's body, Thalia had looked away. The frustrated sigh that came from Bobby was a clue that it didn't open.

Then something…odd happened. As if things couldn't get any stranger.

Thalia had been sitting mildly on the Pegasus Piper was currently riding, sitting anyway she wanted because it wasn't as though she could fall off—c'mon, she's dead— and pummel through the clouds. The demigods were on their way to Aeolus' palace, following the windy trail that was left in the sky. And then her spirit, which was already transparent, started fading away.

Her hands were first. She could see the features of her fingers slowly dwindling away into nothingness, followed by her feet and her legs. "What the hell?" she muttered as her waist started to disappear.

It was like she was being slowly taken away by a large, invisible eraser. Her upper body faded, closing in around her neck, and for some reason, Thalia could feel her face disappearing as well. With a blink of any eye, she was gone, but neither Roman demigod on the pegasi noticed. To them, she had been gone since last night.

For a tiny second, Thalia saw black. Looking at her surroundings now, she wasn't on the back of a Pegasus anymore.

The street sign nearby indicated her location: Valencia Boulevard. In front of her was a large building constructed of pure, black obsidian marble that cast a large shadow over her form. In intricate gold lettering were the words: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS. So this was a place where artists or musicians could record their music, right? Still, Thalia was addled on why she was taken here.

Directly across from her were tall glass doors. Even though the doors were made of crystalline glass, she couldn't see anything through the diaphanous doors. But stenciled on the glass was: _NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING._ The last one was what made Thalia read through it again. _NO LIVING._

Ah, she was in the mist-covered entrance of the Underworld.

Not to be dramatic, but her _time_ had come. She made a face at how weird that sounded.

Thalia pushed the glass doors open, stepping into the lobby. The place was brightly lit and under the light, she could see that the lobby was filled with people, or should she say, ghosts. Muzak played softly in the background from the hidden speakers, and the carpet and walls were the colors of steel, reflecting the embodiment of the gray spirits that crowded around. There were people sitting on the couches, people standing up, and people looking anxiously out the windows. They all seemed to be waiting.

The security guard's desk was on a raised podium at the center of the room, so it wasn't that hard to miss. From her lower view, she could see a tall man dressed elegantly in an Italian suit, donning tortoiseshell shades. The man flipped through a magazine, looking completely bored that he was in a place filled with dead people. His eye twitched when he noticed Thalia standing there from the corner of his eyes.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his British accent filled with a hint of disdain. He didn't look up from his magazine.

Thalia scratched the back of her neck. "What am I supposed to do? You know, now that I'm dead?"

"How refreshing," the man smirked. As he shifted in his seat, she could see his name tag. The guy's name was Charon. She could tell he still wasn't looking directly at her. "No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon' or 'I can't be dead, Mr. Charon'. Very straightforward of you, little dead one. Now, how did you die?"

"Lycaon bit me."

"The wolf king?" he queried, and when Thalia nodded, he hummed. "Did it hurt?"

She shook her head in difference. "Actually, I didn't feel it at all."

"Good for you—quick and painless. That's an easy way to die. You must be seeking entrance to the Underworld. Normally, with adults, I could charge you by your American Express of add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But ones such as your age never die prepared. I suppose you don't have any coins for passage, do you?" Again, she shook her head, and an almost sympathetic look crossed his face. Almost. "Then you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries."

"So these people," Thalia gestured around the lobby filled with spirits. "They've been waiting to get into the Underworld for hundreds of years?"

Charon nodded barely as he flipped a page. "A few of them have waited for a millennia now."

"Oh." That would be her life for the next century or two. Waiting. "Thanks, I guess."

"You come with manners," Charon noted accordingly, his tone filled with small acknowledgment as though Thalia had said the right thing. "I might just tap off fifty years from your waiting list."

Thalia turned around, looking around at the pact lobby. She squinted, espying an empty window seat a few distances away from where she stood. She could sit there for the rest of eternity. It looked quite comfortable. Thalia rolled her eyes, thinking, _Who was she kidding?_ She was in the crappiest of situations.

Before she took even one step, Charon's voice from behind stopped her. "Halt, demigod. Turn around so that I can take a closer look at you."

Now he wanted to look at her? Nevertheless, Thalia turned around. Charon was leaning down, his lengthy body so close to her that she could see his bleach-blond hair. He finally lifted his shaded tortoiseshell glasses and revealed his empty eye sockets peering at her. Not to be rude or anything, but what would he see?

"Well, well, what do we have here? A dead daughter of Zeus?" he questioned inexplicably. When Thalia opened her mouth to respond, he quickly cut her off. "Yes, I know who you are, Thalia Grace. You said Lycaon killed you, didn't you? I bet Zeus is ten times madder at that wretched wolf king than usual."

Charon stepped down the podium, his Italian suit mysteriously replaced with a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone, revealing his empty eye sockets to everyone. "Very well, come along."

"Where are we going?" Thalia still remained rooted in her place.

"The Underworld," Charon responded. "There's no need for you to wait with the others, neither do you have to pay the fee like the rest. You're very lucky your dad is the King of all gods."

Charon pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, with Thalia in tow. The spirits looked at Thalia enviously as they tried to grab her, the voice demanding that they get free rides or that she may be able to give them some coins. Charon, however, shoved them out of the way with a powerful hand.

"What a bunch of freeloaders," he muttered, indicating Thalia along through the elevator. It was empty, so that meant that she would be going alone. He closed the elevator by pushing a key card through a slot in the elevator panel.

The elevator started to descent, and in a matter of moments, a dizzy feeling passed through Thalia as the elevator shot forward, the floor beginning to sway. When Thalia blinked, the elevator had turned into a wooden barge, with Charon poling her through an oily river. The river had things such as plastic dolls, flattened flowers, destroyed weapons, dead animals, ripped diplomas, and Thalia might have seen some fresher bodies polluting the river.

_The River Styx. _This was the same river that had made Achilles invulnerable.

"Where are you taking me, Charon?"

Charon pointed far away to where a line of dead people were waiting outside a pavilion on the right. It led to a small valley surrounded by walls, more like a gated community, which pretty much seemed to be the only happy part of the dark Underworld. Beyond the security gates were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history, Roman villas, medieval castles, and Victorian mansions. Silver and gold flowers bloomed on the lawns of each house, and the grass rippled in rainbow colors. Thalia could hear distant laughter and barbecue cooking.

The daunting part was that only a few people lived in this happy place. A much longer line of people led to somewhere else.

Thalia wracked her brain for some history she knew of this place. "Don't I have to go through some sort of judgment before I go anywhere else?"

"Nope," Charon responded, his lips highly pronouncing the 'p'. "You get to skip all that hassle and go straight through Elysium. Any child of the Big Three automatically goes to Elysium, depending on what you've done. And since you've taken part in the last Titan war and all that heroic stuff, you get to go. Congratulations," he deadpanned.

Thalia tilted her head, very befuddled. "I took part in the last war?"

"Yes," Charon drawled in that listless tone. "Did you forget already? It was quite recent."

She forgot everything, but she kept that fact hidden as Charon continued to row.

A minute later, a tall, buff guy appeared next to Thalia. He had a scarred face with shaved black hair. He wore a white tunic and bronze armor, and he held a plumed war helm under his arm. His eyes were the palest green, and what made him most significant was the bloody arrow sticking out of his left calf.

"Achilles!" Charon yelled in frustration. "Did I not tell you _not_ to come near my boats again?"

"This is important," Achilles answered in a collected tone, unbothered that Charon was seething. He turned to Thalia, sitting down next to her. "You were never supposed to die, Thalia. Nothing in your fate said that you were to die."

_Wow, the Greek hero Achilles is speaking to me. Now I know I'm really dead._ Thalia shrugged. "There's nothing I could do to change that. I'm here, aren't I?"

"That's right, she's dead," Charon fixed Achilles with a steely glare. "Now if you'll excuse me, you need to get off this boat so that we may be able to continue our way."

Achilles ignored Charon. "Thalia, you know of my curse, don't you? The Curse of Achilles?"

"Sure, I do. Take a dip in the river and it makes you all powerful." Wait, she didn't know this before.

"Yes," Achilles nodded along her words. "It will make you invulnerable. But it would also make you weak. Your prowess in combat will be beyond any mortal's, but your weaknesses will increase as well."

"Er, no offense, Achilles, but why are you telling me this? I'm already dead. This only works on people who are still alive."

"Everyone knows that it only works on people who are still living," Achilles agreed. He leaned in closer to Thalia, his words barely above a whisper. "But no one's ever tried it when they are dead."

All Thalia got was a blank state of mind as she tried to comprehend.

Achilles waved his hand causing a portion of the River Styx to move forward as the boat remained still. The waves washed over, hoarding junk down the path, before he raised his hand once more. The river slowed down again, languidly bringing a body up from the bank. The body floated near the boat, giving Thalia an eyeful of who the body belonged to. Her eyes only widened to see that it was _her_ own body lolling around in the oily water.

Did that mean that the drain in Grant Park led to the River Styx in the Underworld?

"Your body is already in the river. All you need to do is focus on your mortal point. Once you do that, you must head straight back into the body. With the soul attached to the body for a split second, the river would be able to make you invulnerable, and it may give you your life back."

Charon stomped his foot down angrily. "Enough of this nonsense, Achilles! No one has ever done this before! Not even you!"

Achilles stood up and gripped his helm tightly. "Which is why _she_ should do it. Like she said, she's already dead, so what could hurt? It's worth a shot."

"So I just think of a mortal spot and jump into my body?" Thalia stood up also, inching near the edge of the barge.

"Sit down!" Charon demanded.

"Concentrate on your mortal point," Achilles advised carefully. "Imagine one spot of your body that will remain vulnerable. This is where your soul will anchor your body to the world. I will be your greatest weakness, but also your only hope. Lose sight of that keeps your mortal, and the river will burn you. But like we've discussed, you're already dead. And if you lose focus on your mortal point while the river is reviving you, then you may die again and your chance at another life is gone."

Charon snorted. "Why would you go back into that horrendous world when you've already achieved Elysium?"

"Because I'm still needed," Thalia murmured, loud enough for both Achilles and Charon to hear. Achilles grinned, but Charon only sneered. "I never wanted to die in the first place."

Thalia concentrated on the one part of her body that would remain vulnerable. With a lot of thinking done in her mind, she decided the right place: her left ear. Hopefully, someone wouldn't randomly yank at her ear. It was one of the places on her body were it was hidden from view most of the time, when her hair wasn't tied up. Still focused, her spirit floated above her body, where her soul was slowly sucked back into her body through her left ear.

She didn't feel anything at first. With a morose thought, she began to think that it hadn't worked. But then muscles came to life, straining painfully. Her legs turned to jelly, and every inch of her body burned. Right when she was beginning to breathe with life again, her breathe was sucked out of her as she drowned. The worst case scenario for her would be that she would be revived back to life, only to die again.

A whirlwind of faces flashed through her mind as she saw Jason, Hazel, Kenneth, Reyna, Bobby, Piper, Lupa, and even Gwendolyn. But then she saw other familiar faces, such as that satyr boy named Grover. More faces flashed around before a tug at her ear pulled at her, as though it was keeping her tied to something.

"Hold on, Pinecone Face."

Thalia could see that boy, Seaweed Brain, standing on what seemed like the edge of a lake pier. His face was pulled in a grin, as though he was amused that she was boiling in the River Styx. He was trying hard not to laugh as he offered his hand to her. "You're even clumsier than I am. Here, take my hand." The seawater-eyed boy was awfully cute. _Bad time to be thinking that, Thalia._

Her aching arm launched up and grabbed a hold of his hand. A name was being yelled very loudly in her mind, the name sharper and clearer than anything she's ever heard before.

_Percy Jackson. _

As his arm pulled her up, Thalia burst out of the river, her arm gripping along the edge of the wooden barge. Charon had jumped back, his eyes widening by the second. He must have thought that it wouldn't work. Thalia pulled herself over the boat, where she spat that oily water back into the river. Her skin was a bright red, as red as a tomato, and she felt very itchy.

"Well done," Achilles nodded his head. "I would say that what you've done would be a first in history. But I warn you, be very careful. If anything, this life is even more dangerous than your first." And with that, he faded away.

"Great," Charon sighed heavily. "Look what you've done. You've made me row halfway across the river for no reason. We have to turn back because _you_ don't belong here anymore."

Thalia stretched out, testing her new body. Least to say, it felt better than her first. Out of curiosity, her hand trailed up to where her left ear was. She gave an experimental pinch. Immediately, she froze, shivers going down her spine as her body threatened to break down. Breathing in, she calmed herself, making a note to _never_ do that again.

Charon rowed back, the wooden barge crossing under the bridge that held an extremely large black palace. Rather than noting the details of the ominous building, Thalia was more fixed on the three people that stood on one of the balconies of the gloomy palace.

The tallest figure was a man dressed in black silken robes. He had a crown of braided gold, and his skin was an albino white that contrasted with the black aura he illuminated. He radiated with power that was infused with grace and lethality all in one. The second figure was a beautiful woman in a spring dress, unlike the blackness of the man. Flowers were braided into her black hair as her pale face looked down at Thalia in thought.

But it was the boy to the side that gave her that gut feeling. She eyed up at his shaggy dark hair and the olive face that looked as if it was beginning to thoroughly pale. He wore everything black like the tall man, and a silver skull ring rested on his finger. As surprised as Thalia was looking at him, the boy was staring at Thalia as though she were a ghost.

Well, she kind of had been.

Yet, Charon polled her away before Thalia could even begin to think on the matter. The three people on the balcony slowly escaped her mind as she thought of a way to find Bobby and Piper within the time limit. At this rate, the Roman demigods were already ahead of her.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Some description of the Underworld as a whole was taken from _The Lightning Thief_. Thalia's encounter with Achilles was taken from _The Last Olympian_.

**A/N:** THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I finally got 100! You guys are the best! Now, as you can see after reading, I didn't kill Thalia off. I promise that there will be some of Percy's point of view in the next chapter. Now, I know that Percy and Thalia are set in stone, but what about Jason? I think he should be able to be with someone. I know that romance isn't the main genre of this story, but it's going to happen sometime later. So, who should Jason be with? The choice is entirely up to you.

A.) Reyna

B.) Gwendolyn

C.) Piper

D.) Any other demigod girl (not a goddess)


	18. Et Quaerite Hide

**Chapter Eighteen: Et Quaerite Hide**_  
>Hide and Seek<em>

"You saw her."

"Well, it wasn't—"

"But you _saw_ her."

Nico di Angelo suddenly realized it was a bad idea to tell Percy that he saw Thalia in the Underworld. The hero of the last war had been under enough emotional stress as it already was, and for Nico to abruptly pop up in camp and blurt out: _"Oh, hey, I saw your girlfriend down in the Underworld"_ wasn't very tactful to his feelings. He didn't realize the consequences until he saw all the natural colors fleeing Percy's face, leaving back a white, almost translucent, visage that was close to the color of snow.

He should have read the warnings Annabeth had been giving him before he opened his stupid mouth. That morning, Nico had entered the camp and immediately made his way towards the training arena, where Percy and Annabeth were. They had talked about life and other crap, and somehow, the conversation trailed of to Thalia, firstly prodded by Percy. At the mention of the missing blue-eyed girl of Zeus, a look of remembrance crossed Nico's facial features, signaling him that he did in fact see said girl rowing on a boat with that horrid Charon across the River Styx.

Naturally, he opened his mouth to say that, not before Annabeth mouthed to him, _"Drop the subject."_ Talking about Thalia had brought a somber, depressed look to Percy's face. Nico wished he had seen this before he told him.

"She's—she's…" Percy stammered, his words coming out incoherently before dying in his throat. His face continued to fade into a sickly pale color, his fingers clenching tightly at his side, nails digging deeply into his palm. His sword fell from his hand and dropped to the ground with a loud _clang_! and causing tedious silence ensuing.

By Nico saying that he saw Thalia in the Underworld, the message most likely meant that she was dead.

Annabeth visibly flinched at the state of Percy's manner. Her grey eyes flickered to meet Nico's onyx pools, watching realization dawning to his face before he sobered up as quickly as Percy did. The two slowly watched as Percy's sturdy barriers crumbled down right before their eyes.

"Take me to the Underworld."

Nico looked back up, his gaze visibly wide. "You can't go down there—"

In one movement, Riptide was back in Percy's grip, the sharp tip pointed directly at where Nico's Adam's apple was bobbing up and down slightly, due to his alerting nerves. Nico could actually feel his sweat beginning to trickle at his forehead, the liquid just touching the place above his eyebrow.

"Percy!" came Annabeth's defiant scream before Nico was shoved behind the blonde Athena girl. Nico felt quite perturbed that he needed to be protected by Annabeth, considering he knew how to handle a blade, but when going against Percy, Nico didn't resist hiding behind the girl.

The son of Poseidon clenched his jaw firmly. "Move aside, Annabeth," he murmured quietly, hitting the flat blade of his sword against her shoulder, indicating that matters were serious.

"No, Percy."

"Annabeth." The sword quickly came down, tearing at the sleeve of her blue shirt. _"Move."_

The blonde girl took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose before standing her ground and willing herself not to move away from Percy's steel-like gaze. "Don't act so impulsive, Percy. Let's just think about this—"

"Think about this? _Think?_" he repeated, his tone sardonically mocking her statement. Percy threw the sword away, and Annabeth was glad that the sword was detached from the dangerous boy in front of her, but that didn't ease the ill feelings she had of Percy's structure. "Thalia's dead!"

When Nico mentioned that he saw Thalia in the Underworld, Annabeth didn't react much to it. Rather than how Percy reacted, she had been anxious to hear if Nico had talked with Thalia or not. But when Percy yelled at her like that, the words swirled around Annabeth's mind, making sure she understood them, causing unwanted tears to creep around the corners of her eyes.

"How can you stand there and not care at all?" he demanded, cheeks flushing with anger.

The tears that lined against her stormy eyes spilled down. "I do care…"

Percy scoffed loudly at the response, turning his head to the side so that he wouldn't have to face Annabeth or Nico. True enough, he too felt like crying himself. He even felt suicidal, since maybe death was the only way that would lead him back to Thalia. Neither of them understood what he was going through. To them, Thalia had been a mere friend or a best friend. They didn't _love_ her. They didn't love her as much as he did.

Nico cleared his throat before softly saying, "She's not dead."

Two heads snapped towards him, identical expressions of shock masking their face. "You just said you saw her in the Underworld," Annabeth noted slowly, hastily wiping her eyes.

"Yeah, I did see her, but that didn't mean that she was exactly dead," Nico explained. He paused, staring that the astonished faces before he decided it was right to continue. "I saw her in the boat with Charon, but they were going the opposite direction of Elysium. Even Father said that she wasn't dead anymore."

"Anymore?" Percy repeated with a sharp turn.

Nico could only shrug, since he had no answer. "She died earlier. But when actually entered the Underworld, she must have come back to life or something. I'm still not sure."

"Was there anything different about her?" Annabeth shot at him.

"Not really." A pause. "Oh, wait, there was something. On one of her forearms, I saw this strange tattoo. It looked like something like an eagle and there were four letters on it: SPYR."

Annabeth shook her head in disagreement. "SPQR," she corrected the younger boy. "I've heard that before…I just don't know where." Her eyebrows pulled together to connect as she delved into the pensive thoughts of her mind.

The fact that Thalia was not dead entered Percy, calming him in the slightest. Well, at least he wasn't threatening to murder Nico with his sword anymore, or yelling at Annabeth. In what was an attempt at a steady voice, Percy managed to muster up, "Why can't I go down there to get her? Hercules did it."

"What are you talking about?" Nico countered back.

"Hercules," Percy reiterated impatiently. He shuffled his feet to imply his frustration. "You know, when Hercules went down to the Underworld to save that girl. I think her name was Meg or something…"

"That's from a Disney movie, you idiot," Annabeth muttered, breaking away from her thoughts. She stared at Percy before rolling her eyes. "It's not the same as real life." Her face changed at she bit her lip. "Thing is, Nico mentioned that Thalia was going in the opposite direction of Elysium, meaning that she's exiting the Underworld. She's not there anymore."

Percy's shoulders slumped significantly. He was facing an emotional roller coaster: his spirits dropping when he heard that Thalia was in the Underworld, then raising the find out that she wasn't really dead, but then slipping again to know that she was once again still missing. It was like an endless game of hide and seek.

When was it ever going to stop?

SPQR.

Now this was a new hindrance. Annabeth knew she heard that somewhere before. An intuitive feeling inside of her told her that if she knew what those four letters meant, it might just lead to where Thalia was.

* * *

><p>A large cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers were stuffed on one of the roofs of a large monument. It was the oddest thing she had ever seen from up in the air. A large advertisement that soared above the building was in large, block letters—so in other words, the sign was very hard to miss. It said: <em>WATCH AEOLUS NIGHTLY!<em>

Thalia absentmindedly stroked the long neck of the Pegasus she was riding on. It wasn't the same black one she had been riding on for the past two days. This one was white and pure, and way larger than the ones the camp offered. It had a majestic-like quality that radiated from the horse. The moment she went out the doors of DOA RECORDING STUDIOS, she had found the white flying horse waiting for her patiently. She didn't have to think twice to know that it had been a present from her father.

It symbolized an apology for letting her die, she supposed later on.

The white Pegasus dropped her off right at the steps of the palace. The horse was hesitant in leaving her, but she reassured him that she would be alright…hopefully. She quietly walked through the front doors of the palace, leading into a marble foyer in the color of bright white. It reminded her of the White House in Washington D.C., only, there were purple banners that decorated the foyer, all talking about Olympian weather or something like that.

"Hello!" A floating being came up to her, freezing in mid-air. She was a small thing, with pointy ears and an ageless face that couldn't indicate what age she actually was. A white tablet compute was cradled between the crook of her elbow and her arm. "My name is Mellie. We've been expecting you. Are you from Lord Zeus?"

Thalia nodded. "I'm his daughter actually."

"Excellent! Please, right this way!" The flying, pink being leaded her through large security doors and into a much more distracting lobby. "You're far luckier than the demigods that came two hours ago. I had trouble fitting them into Aeolus' schedule."

The blue-eyed girl's head snapped up at the mentioning of the demigods. "Bobby and Piper? They were here?" _Well of course they were here. Why are _you_ here, smart one?_

Mellie poked at the white tablet. "Oh, that's what their names were!"

Thalia stepped to the side as a horrendous thing rushed past her, bumping her shoulder just slightly. It was an ugly mix of an old lady and a large chicken. Yeah, that was what it looked like. Her black hair was in a hairnet, and her arms and wings were those of a chicken. She had a fat, leathered body that looked slicked with oil and had sharp talons. Thalia grinned at the thought of the ugly thing flying.

When she looked back at Mellie, she realized that the pink woman was already floating away, so she hurriedly skipped ahead just to maintain in step with her. Mellie then led her through a set of doors in which one of them had a bright green light blinking at the top.

Inside of the doors was what frightened Thalia. The central section of Aeolus' fortress was as big as a cathedral with television equipment floating in the air, spotlights haphazardly shining anywhere, camper and computer sets making that odd, technological noise, and the fact that there was an enormous circular pit at the heart of the mountain. Normally, almost falling to your death wouldn't haze Thalia all that much, but considering she had just come back from the dead, she was trying to preserve her life as much as she could.

The floating screens above showed all sorts of television grams: news broadcasts, gladiators fighting, demigods in battle, monsters rummaging through dust, and in a weird sense, they looked as though they were movies.

At the far end sat a man that was talking into an earpiece phone. He had a remote control in each hand and was pointing at the scream with random motions. He wore a sky-blue business suit, but it darkened clouds that moved across the fabric. A stock of white hair sat on his head, with a ton of make-up on his face, making him look as though he had went through an operation that consisted of plastic surgery. It was just all wrong on the man. He muttered things on his phone and his mouth kept twitching. Was he crazy or amused?

In the back of him was a silky blue backdrop that resembled a cinema screen. As she peeked through one of the computers, she realized that Aeolus was showcasing the weather. Only, the weather seemed to change every minute or so.

No wonder he looked crazy.

Mellie floated to Aeolus, with Thalia right on her tail. "Ah, sir, Mr. Aeolus, this girl here—"

"Hold it!" Aeolus held up a hand to silence her, then pointing at one of the screens. "Watch this."

It looked like a storm-chasing program where insane thrill-seekers chased after tornadoes. Thalia watched as a red Jeep plowed straight into a funnel cloud and got tossed around with the wind.

Aeolus shrieked with delight. "The Disaster Channel. People do that on purpose! Isn't that amazing? Let's watch it again!" he supplied, pausing to give Thalia a glance and a mad grin.

"Uh, sir, I'm—"

"Yes, yes, I know who you are." _Why was everyone saying that? _His odd grin only widened as his pasty hand reached out and latched onto hers, shaking it vigorously. "Ah, finally nice to meet you, Thalia Grace! Your brother stopped by a year ago. He was on his way to fight a sea monster, I believe. I remember every hero who's ever come to me for aid. Now, watch these ducks—"

"Sir," Mellie interrupted. "Two minutes to air."

Thalia took a sniff, smelling of Aeolus' heavy cologne, but she highly suspected it was perfume. "Mr. Aeolus, please don't kill me. I'm sorry I didn't bring any storm spirits for you."

"Kill you? Why would I kill you? Did I order demigods to be killed?"

Mellie checked her computer tablet. "Yes, sir, fifteenth of September. 'Storm spirits released by the death of Typhon, demigods to be held responsible,' etc…yes, a general order for all of them to be killed."

Aeolus frowned. "Oh, pish. I was just grumpy that day. Rescind that order." He grinned at Thalia, and she bit her lip so that she wouldn't laugh at the wind god's ridiculously made up face. "You know…I remember now. Almost seemed like a voice telling me to give that order. A little cod tingle on the back of my neck."

That was kind of creepy. "A voice in your head, sir?" Thalia repeated.

"Oh, dear, it's time!" he shouted, coming to his feet. An eyebrow lifted on his face as he looked at Thalia, as though an idea was plotting in the white-haired head of his. "Well, I've never done this before! Thalia, darling, how would you like to broadcast the news with me? Yes, let's do it!"

"I, um…" Thalia froze at the thought of being on air, with a whole mess of gods and goddesses watching the news. She looked towards Mellie for some help.

Mellie took the hint and said, "Sir, we really—"

"No, nonsense!" Aeolus cut in before she could hear what Mellie would say. When Aeolus grabbed a hold of Thalia's wrist, she felt her fingers twitch in rebellion. Before she even knew it, the god was pulling her towards the blue screen. He flew to go faster, causing Thalia to lift in the air for a couple of seconds.

Aeolus gave her a wink, already speaking into the earphone. Thalia tried to smile back, but in her mind, she thought, _I don't want to be on TV, you crazy god. I need to know where Piper and Bobby are so—_

A voice blared from the floating speakers: "And now, weather every twelve minutes! Here's your forecaster for Olympian Weather—the OW! Channel— Aeolus!"

Lights blazed on Aeolus and Thalia. While Aeolus' smile was unnaturally white and looked as though he had too much caffeine to near explosion, the blue-eyed daughter of Zeus—Jupiter blinked wide-eyed at the camera that was now trained upon her. Her eyes glassed over before her mind blanked on impact.

"Hello, Olympus! Aeolus, master of the winds here, with weather every twelve! Now, today, we have a special guest star here on the show! May I present: Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus!"

The camera inched closer and Thalia couldn't help but stare at it. "…Hi."

Aeolus chuckled. "A little shy, isn't she? Well, we'll have a low-pressure system moving over Florida today, so expect milder temperatures since Demeter wishes to spare the citrus farmers!" He gestured towards the blue screen, to which Thalia knew a digital image was being projected from in the computers. "Along the seaboard—oh, hold on." He tapped his earpiece. "Sorry, folks! Poseidon is angry with Miami today, so it looks like that Florida freeze is back on! Sorry, Demeter. Over in the Midwest, I'm not sure what St. Louis did to offend Thalia's father here, but you can expect winter storms! Bad news, Missouri! No, wait. Hephaestus feels sorry for Missouri, so you all will have much more moderate temperatures and sunny skies near the state capital. And the state capital of Missouri is…?" he nodded over at Thalia.

Again, the blank mind. Thalia coughed out, "Jefferson City, isn't it?"

"Th-_a-a-a-a-_t's right!" he exclaimed, singing as though he was spinning the Wheel of Fortune. "She's such a natural! Oh, Zeus must be so proud! Now, what's up with the clouds in Alabama? Name a town in Alabama, Thalia!"

_But there's so many. _"Birmingham?"

"Ah, ha! She chose the largest city! The current weather in Birmingham…"

And Aeolus kept going like that—forecasting each area of the country and changing his prediction two or three times as he got messages over his earpiece. She couldn't believe weather was this random. More than occasionally, Aeolus would turn to Thalia and ask her for the state capital or the state's town. It wasn't much, but it meant that Aeolus wouldn't have to think of the specific capitals while changing the weather every other minute.

"And that's the weather!" Aeolus concluded. "Wave good-bye to the camera, Thalia!" The blue-eyed girl did so, and Aeolus clapped in delight. "Isn't she adorable? See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!"

The lights shut off and the video monitors went to random coverage. His face sagged with weariness, but upon knowing that Thalia was still beside him, he put a smile on. "Well, I must thank you for helping me there, Thalia! You realize it's hard keeping track of the weather. So glad you offered."

Thalia's eyebrow lifted in amusement. "I didn't offer. You were the one that suggested it, sir."

"Nevertheless, I must give you something. Tell me, what do you want?"

She grinned in excitement. Finally, she was getting what she came for. "I need to find out where the lair of Enchiladas is."

Aeolus frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"I mean Enceladus," she smiled sheepishly.

"The giant? Why would you want to go there?" Aeolus' white face scrunched up together in disgust. "He's horrible! He doesn't even watch my program!"

Thalia wouldn't watch his program either. Watching Aeolus switch the weather every second made her seasick, if that was even possible. Watching him was like standing on an unsteady boat in the middle of the ocean.

"Enceladus has the father of one of my friends. And I think they stopped by here for the same information a few hours ago."

"Oh, right, those two demigods." Aeolus tilted his head in thought, and she realized that he was listening to the voices in his earpiece. "Well…Zeus approves. But he says it would be better if you saved her after the weekend because he has a big party planned…and that's Aphrodite yelling at him. She says I should help you. And Hephaestus…it's rare they agree on anything…"

"So…?" Thalia trailed off hopefully, adding a smile.

"Aww, how can I resist this?" Aeolus cooed as his fingers grabbed a hold of Thalia's cheek and pinched it softly. Thalia felt offended, but she bit her tongue from saying anything stupid. "Alright, you'll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo."

Mount Diablo. Devil Mountain. Not a good sign. But, the she remembered that the mountain was just east of the San Francisco Bay. Looking at the clock, she realized that it was already eleven. Originally, the demigods were supposed to be in Enceladus lair by noon. How was she supposed to get there in under an hour?

Bidding Aeolus and Mellie good-bye, Thalia stalked out of the palace as quickly as she could. She ran down the steps as she placed two fingers in her mouth and blew a rather loud whistle. Her foot was nearly tapping in impatience when she saw the white Pegasus soar above and descend to land in front of her.

However, as they were flying in the sky, another white blur spiraled next to them. It was a smaller white thing, and when Thalia looked closer, it was a bright dove. Its eyes were twinkling at Thalia, as if it was planning to do something. She could only watch as the dove flew forward, ahead of her and her Pegasus before turning back, this time, flying straight at Thalia and the white horse.

"Here we go again," she managed to mutter sarcastically before the dove shot in a flash, hitting Thalia. She expected a black hole to fall into before becoming unconscious. This was almost like a routine now.

But rather fading away into the usual darkness, she was engulfed in blinding white.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>The scene with Aeolus is from _The Lost Hero._

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews, as always. You are all amazing. Who do you think the dove is? Anyway, I considered your votes on who Jason should be with. Now, there are some people who voted for two choices, so I counted for them both. I should really make a poll on my profile, but I'm too lazy... Here are the votes:

A.) Reyna: 1

B.) Gwendolyn: 4

C.) Piper: 8

D.) Annabeth: 2


	19. VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE

**Don't you hate it when the writer updates, but it's only an author's note? Don't worry folks, I'll replace this note with the new chapter the next time I update. Anyway, I finally got off my lazy butt and created a legitimate poll. You'll find the poll on my profile, and it's a blind poll, so the results won't be revealed until I close the poll. It's the same question: who should be Jason's partner/girlfriend/lover (whatever you want to call it). I'll close the poll after a decent amount of days pass. So. VOTE IF YOU WANT YOUR VOICE TO BE HEARD!**


	20. Flecte in Ventum

**Disclaimer: **Some lines and references are taken from _The Lost Hero_. **  
><strong>

**A/N: **My apologies for the late update. My summer has been pretty chaotic, and to think, with school _finally_ over, I thought that I would have all the time in the world. Apparently, I don't. I learned that the hard way. Anyway, I've decided to make the poll on my profile live so that you could see the results, however, that does not mean that the poll is closed. I haven't closed it yet, so keep on voting, people! These are the results as of right now:

Reyna: 5

Gwendolyn: 8

Piper: 12

Annabeth: 8

Hey, you know what I just figured out? _**A**_nna_**B**_eth _**C**_hase. **ABC**. That could be her nickname or something. Was Rick Riordan smart or what? Okay, you may now forget that completely random thought and without further ado, I present the next, and horribly late, chapter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nineteen: Flecte in Ventum<strong>

_Bend in the Wind_

Thalia stared agape at her reflection. "What the hell did that goddess do?"

She blinked back, recalling what she had last seen—a white light. The next thing she knew, Thalia woke up at a table at a sidewalk café. It was sunny, there was a hoard of people interacting with their daily lives, and she had no idea she had been in California until she looked at one of the license plates that had passed by. Her placement in setting wasn't the only thing that shocked her. After finished with looking at her surroundings, she gawked to find that someone had given her a wardrobe change.

Where was her purple t-shirt? Where were her ratty, torn jeans? And where was that darn Pegasus? She was wearing some sort of leather get-up: black leather jacket, dark leather boots, black tights…she looked like a spy from Mission Impossible. And it was freaking _hot_ for Pete's sake! She looked like an odd duckling when all these Californians were wearing regular tank tops, t-shirts, and shorts to embrace the sun. She should have known that dove was Aphrodite/Venus. After all, it was one of the goddess' main symbols that fully represented her.

She had roughly forty-five minutes to get Mount Diablo where Enceladus would eventually be. Thalia could barely see Mount Diablo after the Rockies. Trying her very best to beat the time, she impulsively waved her hand, calling a cab in.

"Um, hold on," she murmured when the driver looked at her expectantly. Her hands reached deep into the pockets of her jacket and surprisingly, she found a rather large wad of cash.

_That's from your father, _she heard a woman's voice ring in her head.

"Thanks, Aphrodite," Thalia grinned before she slipped into the backseat of the taxi cab, quickly giving the driver instructions on where to go.

Thalia had really hoped that the cab could take her all the way up to the top, but apparently, luck was not on her side. She could already tell the cab couldn't go on once she felt the car lurch and grind against the rocky road. Halfway up, she was a bit dismayed to find that the ranger's station was closed, and there was a thick chain that was blocking the way.

She frowned, giving the cab driver a couple bills before getting out of the car. "Keep the change. And I suggest you get out of here, quick," she carefully warned.

The daughter of Jupiter slipped pass that multiple chains, mentally preparing herself for the trek up the mountain. Once she started climbing, she held a grudge towards the love goddess for giving her such clothing. She'd probably be world's dirtiest hero—not _that_ way—once she reached the crest of the mountain. But funny thing, she didn't feel the least bit tired when climbing. Thalia vaguely realized that this invulnerable thing did come in handy.

Just over the ridge where she was standing, she could see Enceladus' camp, which was equivalent to the size of a football field. There were extra logs and large construction equipment, including intimidating things such as sideways guillotines, hydraulic axes, cranes, rotating blades, and etc. In fact, Thalia could see the ugly monster all the way from her standing point.

Thalia regarded the thirty-foot tall giant and the extra large spear he was holding, and half-heartedly wondered how she was going to take him down. Size was obviously her disadvantage, for sure. The monster was surrounding a large, purple fire, and when Thalia squinted to see exactly what he was doing, she saw that he was chanting under her breath.

But it was on the other side of the bonfire that caught her gaze. On one post was an unconscious man, his head slumped in a way that Thalia couldn't quite see his face, but she hinted that the man was Piper's father. A few feet away, Piper and Bobby were each tied onto their own separate posts, their faces pale and wide-eyed. When Enceladus suddenly turned around in the duration of his chanting, Thalia quickly ducked under the shadows of the mountain's final crest.

And she had absolutely no plan on how to take this. Inwardly cursing under her breath, she scrambled along the ridge, nimbly jumping over a few pointed rocks that looked quite threatening. Here, her conscious was undoubtedly saying: _Don't you dare do anything stupid._ Yeah, well, too late.

She walked straight into the clearing.

Alarmed at the sudden movement, Enceladus abruptly stopped his chanting. He narrowed upon seeing the blue-eyed girl in his presence, a wicked smirk donning his less than adequate face. Surpassing his face, her eyes drifted to meet the shocked faces of her fellow demigods, looking as though they had seen something utterly horrible. Due to certain circumstances, she might as well be a ghost to them.

"What a nice surprise," the giant rumbled, shaking the ground beneath her in the slightest. He glanced at the demigods strapped to the poles. "You two lied! The daughter of Jupiter _is_ alive!"

Thalia silently regarded Piper and scowled up at Enceladus. "I see you've broken your word, jackass. She made before noon and you were supposed to give her father back."

Enceladus let out a hearty laugh, and Thalia was sure the effect was close to a small earthquake. "She broke her word as well. She didn't bring you, daughter of Jupiter—"

"Stop calling me that," Thalia snapped.

"You an amusing one," Enceladus noted obliviously. "It's almost a pity you have to go. You could have done well in entertaining me, but you'd make an even better sacrifice to Gaea."

Gaea? The top-notch Mother Nature that supposed had flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and a whole bunch of wild animals helping her do chores? No, wait, now she was thinking of Disney's portrayal of Snow White.

She had always pegged Gaea as one of the good guys.

When the giant oaf opened his mouth, she started upon seeing his teeth glow. Thalia barely had time to dive towards the right when fire streamed from his mouth. Why was it that all the bad guys got the neat powers?

Disregarding the thought, Thalia scrambled on her feet, jumping over the mediocre pits of flames, her intention and getting towards Bobby, Piper, and Mr. McLean. Enceladus must have realized what she was doing so he quickly sent another wave of hot flames towards her, and it hit the ground so hard, it sent Thalia reeling back in ridiculous somersaults.

She hit the ground, slamming right on her backside. But as soon as she struck the dirt, Thalia was back on her feet—now if the little dip in the River Styx didn't happen, her endurance wouldn't have been possible. Swatting at the gray smoke around her, she used that as an advantage to slip past the giant's legs, trying as much as she could to blend in with the conflagrated fog. She snatched Piper's dagger that had been strewn on the ground and reached the owner of the weapon first.

"Get your dad out of here," Thalia ordered her as she cut at Piper's bindings with the blade.

Piper stared at her, kaleidoscopic eyes boggled. "But—y-you—you died!" she stuttered over her words, and Thalia couldn't blame the younger girl for doing so.

"It's a long story," the blue-eyed girl finally ripped the ropes that attached Piper to the post. In a flurry, her hand sneaked out and lashed a wide arc on the ropes that bound Piper's father, cutting it loose. "Get your dad out of these mountains as fast as possible. And make sure you don't get caught doing so, got it?"

For a moment, Piper was too traumatized to respond. Here in front of her was a girl who was supposed to be dead. At Thalia's hard glare, the daughter of Venus mutely nodded.

The smoke was still too thick and Enceladus was busy stamping all over the fiery remains, searching for her that very instant. Once Piper wrapped an arm to support her father, Thalia made her way over to Bobby, preparing to release him from the post. She had expected Bobby to react in a similar way as Piper had done, but the First Legion boy stood as stoic as an army soldier—like how a true legion member should stand.

"I'm not even going to ask," Bobby remarked, grinning, obviously elated that the leader of their quest was alive again.

Thalia smiled back. "Good."

Once the tight ropes around him loosened, Bobby struggled out of them swiftly. "If you can distract Enceladus," he said, "I think I can get one of the cranes to work."

"Of course you can get it to work," Thalia retorted dryly. "You're a son of Vulcan, aren't you?"

Bobby's response was a satisfied smirk. "All the way." He started to leave, but he stopped after a few steps, turning back to face Thalia. "Oh, by the way, your sword is over there." He pointed across the dirty glade, where her golden barrette laid.

Thalia wasted no time and ran towards her clip, smiling once the cold barrette was in her palm again. With one tap, her sword was back in her hand.

"Daughter of Jupiter!" Enceladus roared, spotting Thalia's bent form once the smoke cleared up.

"I hate it when people call me that," Thalia muttered under her breath as she dodged more incoming fire blasts.

Right as she stood, she felt her skin prickle on instinct to know that Enceladus was sending fire once again. There wasn't enough time to dodge away from the flames, so she intuitively struck up her sword hand, her blue eyes flashing. In that moment, electricity met fire and the effect was pretty deadly. A minor explosion happened in front of her very eyes, and Thalia jumped back a few paces so that her face wouldn't get singed to pieces.

Enceladus cackled. "You cannot defeat me, daughter—"

"Do _not_ call me daughter of Jupiter again, you dimwitted _asshole_!"

Honestly, Thalia was fine with people referring to her as Jupiter's daughter or Zeus' daughter. But this Enceladus guy— he was too much.

With an offended outcry, Enceladus jabbed his spear toward her. Thalia narrowly missed the spear's sharp pointed by jumping to the side, and she immediately parried the large spear with her much-too-tiny sword. Her hands trembled as she bared the weight of the giant's spear, and she felt as though both her wrists were about to snap at the impact. She let out a sharp intake as inched her blade from the spear's tip, letting the larger weapon hit the mountain wall right beside her.

As the spear was nearly rooted inside the rocks of the mountain, Thalia streaked forward to where she stood right under the giant, taking her sword and driving it into the thick dragon hide skin of Enceladus' foot. He bellowed in pain at the gnawing stab he received while Thalia watched as the golden _ichor_ ran down the giant's foot. She wished she had golden blood like the immortals. It looked a lot nicer than red blood. Her impractical thoughts were interrupted when Enceladus sent another blast of fire at her.

Now all she really could think of was: _Where the heck is Bobby and that crane?_ as she pointed her sword at the giant's knee, and struck it hard.

Avoid fire. Stab at Enceladus' legs. It went on like that for what seemed like an eternity.

"I'm not some minor monster!" Enceladus bellowed to her. "I am a giant, born to destroy the gods—"

_Who gives a shit?_ Thalia thought, annoyed.

"—Your little gold toothpick can't kill me!"

He was still talking? But the moment got the better of her in her own distracting thoughts as fire blew past her. It missed her by a millimeter, but one stray speck of flame flew and grazed the outer crevice of her left ear. That small part alone was enough to undo her.

Her electric blue eyes widened tremendously at the touch as the small fire melted around her ear. She let out a gasp as she involuntarily dropped her sword and fell to the ground, spasmodically twitching against the earthy dirt. Thalia's hand jerking fingers strove hard to reach towards her left ear to swat away the speck of fire but no avail. Not only could she not move, she couldn't breathe either. The oxygen in her body was leaving her, as though a cruel vacuum was slowly sucking away all the air to leave her flopping around like a fish out of water.

She didn't feel the spear tapping against her foot, to see if she was dead or not. However, she could hear Enceladus' boisterous, earth-shaking laughter. In the next minute, her leg was caught between the giant's plump index finger and thumb. Slowly, she levitated from the ground in a dizzy spell, her mind blank as she was held in mid-air, twirled around only to face Enceladus' ugly face, his fangs baring.

Oh. Wonderful.

"Good try, _daughter of Jupiter_," Enceladus said mockingly, knowing well that Thalia couldn't rebuke him for calling her that title this time. He dangled her, laughing again as her thin body flailed back and forth. "But I cannot be beaten. And now, my first sacrifice to Gaea!"

Thalia felt all the blood rush to her head as she was hung upside down. _Eternal damnation, here I come. Again._

As she twirled around for good, dramatic measure, she could see the tip of the spear slowly making its way towards her chest, Enceladus just inching to ram the thing through her body. Thalia tried to look on the bright side. There was none. Besides the fact that the tiny fire on her ear finally blew out. She tried to summon any form of electricity, but she was still recuperating from her body breakdown.

There was another overwhelming roar, but it didn't come from Enceladus. It sounded more like it came from a large machine. She nudged in Enceladus' hold, spinning to see a construction crane moving, with a determined Bobby in the operator's seat. She saw his finger moved to one of the triggers, and with one push, the crane moved altogether and the metal hook swung to the side and struck the giant's head.

Enceladus howled in his span moment of pain, stumbling back a couple of clumsy steps, and abruptly released Thalia from his grip. She tumbled in the air, headed straight for the ground and almost hit in a way that would damage the strength of her bones had the winds not saved her—_Thank you, Dad_—and she floated the rest of the way down until her feet was planted firmly on the ground.

She looked up at the sky and noticed the dark clouds coming in, that hadn't been there before. Giving her father more mental words of her appreciation, her eyes trained onto the stormy sky, her eyes flashing electrically.

Lightning surged through her body as she beamed brightly, hitting Enceladus to throw him off again. A thunderous sound emancipated from the clouds as an immeasurable streak of lightning hit the ground with a deafening crack. The brilliant lightning bolt that Thalia had called separated the rocky crater, causing each side to messily rip away from the other. The giant slipped down the side of the crater, tripping over his feet, but not falling. Thalia herself fell forward into the rift, but the crane had lowered to her level, catching her before she could fully crash in.

After Enceladus caught his footing, he sneered at the demigods. "My fate is preordained! Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes! You have won nothing! My brothers are rising, and they are ten times as strong as I am! We sill destroy the gods at their very roots and you will die, Olympus will die—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Thalia clasped tightly onto the railings of the metal hook and signaled Bobby.

Bobby, catching her finger moment, flicked at the trigger again. The crane physically moved forward, the metal hook swinging horizontally, with Thalia hanging on for dear life. The crane's metal hook hit the side of Enceladus' face one last time before the giant tripped over and fell into the crevice, the earth shaking along the way.

Enceladus was gone.

Well, for now, at least.

With an odd jolt, Bobby lowered the crane down until the metal rested atop the ground, letting Thalia jump off of it and onto the remnants of the mountain, which was on fire.

"You have perfect timing, Bobby," Thalia commented, her head still spinning.

Bobby passed her a grin. The look soon turned to one out of concern. "Hey, are you alright? It looked as though that lightning bolt thing you did took a lot of energy from you."

"No, duh," Thalia couldn't help but at sarcasm in her response. "I'm just a little light-headed. I just need a little nap, but that's probably unlikely."

"No, duh," Bobby repeated smartly, laughing at his consul's glare.

Above them was a helicopter, the flying vehicle circling the mountain. Thalia thought it might be firefighters or reporters that were observing the mess they caused. The two were beyond shocked when the helicopter lowered for them to see a female pilot with a glazed look in her eyes, with Piper and her dad in the backseat.

Thalia looked at Piper skeptically. "How did you get a helicopter?"

"Bobby's bullhorn."

"Bullhorn…?" Thalia turned around, looking at Bobby with an expression of confusion before she was cut off.

"Just get in," Bobby sighed in exasperation, tired from their fight with Enceladus as he physically pushed Thalia into the helicopter with his hands behind her back, ignoring Thalia's agitated look.

As they got on board, the helicopter took off. The pilot kept asking questions over the radio, inquiring the whereabouts of where they were going, but all three demigods ignored him. They flew over the crevice, and Thalia instantly peeked out the window to see if she could see Enceladus from her viewpoint. With minor unfortunate luck, she only saw a pit of blackness in the hole that her lightning bolt had created.

Piper's dad—in which Thalia was informed that his name was Tristan— didn't look too good. It made sense, considering he was a hostage of Enceladus' for that amount of time. He sat in the corner of his seat, his knees drawn up to his chest, his hands winded over his knees as he rocked himself, his eyes hollow and dark. Tristan McLean certainly looked as though he had definitely seen better days in his years.

"Is he okay, Piper?" Thalia asked as she hesitatingly eyed the other girl's father.

In return, Piper let out a sad sigh. "He's just a little distressed."

Mr. McLean continued to rock back and forth. "I live in a world of monsters. I live in a world of monsters. I live in a world of monsters. I live in a world of monsters. I live…" he chanted the mantra over and over.

"My mother gave me a vial," Piper said, taking out a small vial. "It'll take away his recent memories. It'll make it as though none of this had ever happened to him," she added quietly, swooshing the pink liquid.

Wordlessly, Thalia turned back to watch Tristan McLean with scrutiny.

"I live in a world of monsters…"

"Give it to him," the black-haired girl advised after that.

Piper swallowed nervously and nodded in consent. She made her way over to her father, murmuring soft words to him in the slightest of desperation, but her father didn't seem to be listening. The image was a little heart-breaking, so Thalia walked away in the space the back of the helicopter provided for her to give them a minute.

Seemingly out of thin air, Bobby appeared at her side. "So what next?" he asked.

"We head for the Wolf House," Thalia rubbed at her eyes tiredly. "I'm pretty sure that's where Juno is."


End file.
